Feeds guide
How to fix an RSS pubDate
Write RSS 2.0 publication dates in the expected RFC 822 family, preserve the real instant, and catch values feed readers silently ignore.
6 min read · Updated 2026-08-21
The short answer
RSS pubDate is an RFC 822-style date, not an ISO 8601 timestamp. Serialize a real publication instant with an English day and month name plus a numeric offset or GMT, keep it stable after publication, and validate the complete feed because many readers silently discard a date they cannot parse.Use the date family RSS actually specifies
A common valid spelling is Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:30:00 GMT. The ISO 8601 value 2026-08-18T09:30:00Z is appropriate in Atom but is not the RSS 2.0 pubDate syntax.
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Example</title><link>https://example.com/</link><description>Updates</description>
<item><title>Release</title><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:30:00 GMT</pubDate></item>
</channel>
</rss>Preserve the instant and its meaning
Convert the source time to a known timezone before formatting it. A numeric offset is part of the instant; dropping it or substituting the server timezone can move the item across a date boundary.
Do not rewrite pubDate on every build. Readers use it as the item's publication time, so build timestamps reorder old entries and make them appear new.
- Use English three-letter day and month names.
- Prefer four-digit years and include seconds for consistent output.
- Use GMT or a numeric zone offset such as +0200.
- Keep one source timestamp and format it at serialization time.
Get started
Bring order to the XML your team can't afford to ignore.
Create a free account and get a private workspace to search, validate, diff, and monitor your XML feeds, sitemaps, schemas, and vendor integrations.