Most pages carry something that moves on its own: "updated 1 month ago", "last changed 1 hour ago", a publication date, a clock in the header. None of it is the change you are monitoring for, but all of it produces notifications. The Ignore dates filter takes those dates out of the comparison.
How do I stop dates from triggering notifications?
Add the Ignore dates filter to the page. It skips dates and times when comparing one check with the next, so a timestamp that moves on every visit no longer counts as a change. The quickest route is the noise card at the top of the monitored page, which offers the filter when recent changes were date-driven.
There are four places to turn it on:
- The noise card on the monitored page. It lists the dates it found in recent changes and adds the filter in one click, with an option to apply it to every page you monitor on that domain.
- Conditions & Filters in the page editor (Advanced Mode). Add a condition and choose Ignore dates for the tracked element you want it on.
- Page adjustments when you add a page, where Ignore dates is a toggle next to the other adjustments.
- Edit Settings after selecting several pages on the Tracked Pages list, to add or remove the filter in bulk.
Note: the filter applies to text-based tracked elements. It is not offered for visual comparison, status codes, feeds, file hashes, or elements tracked as a number, price, rating or reviews, because none of those compare page text.
Which dates and times are recognised?
Both absolute and relative forms, and not only in English. Timestamps, "3 days ago" style labels, weekday names, month names, times with time zones, date ranges, quarters and week numbers are all recognised. The language comes from the monitor's browser-language setting when you have chosen one, and otherwise from the site's domain.
| Kind | Examples |
|---|---|
| Relative | 30 min ago, 3 days ago, just now, in 5 days, 2 days left |
| Dates | 19 August 2022, January 5, 2024, 01-01-2020, 2024-01-05, 5. Januar 2024 |
| Dates with a time | Sat Aug 17 2020 18:40:39 GMT+0000, 2024-01-05 14:30, Jan 5, 2024 at 3:45 PM EST |
| Times | 14:30, 3:45 PM, 10:30 CEST |
| Weekdays and casual | Monday, last Friday, yesterday, tomorrow, tonight |
| Ranges and periods | Jan 5 - 7, 2024, 9am - 5pm, Q1 2024, week 15 |
Text that only looks like a date is left alone, so it still counts as a change: a standalone year such as "Copyright 2024", durations such as "30 days returns" or "2 min read", version numbers, ratings such as "4/5", and opening hours written as "24/7".
What happens to the page text and history?
Nothing is rewritten. The page is saved exactly as it was captured, so the history, comparisons, AI summaries, exports and screenshots keep the real dates. The filter only applies while two checks are compared, which means it also applies to the changes already in your history, and you can switch it off again at any time.
In the comparison view, an ignored date is greyed out rather than marked as added or removed, so you can still see what the page said. Turning the filter on or off never produces a false alert of its own, and no recheck is needed.
Remove dates is deprecated. What should I do?
Switch it to the Ignore dates filter. The old Remove dates action rewrote the page before it was saved, so the [DATE REMOVED] placeholder ended up in the stored text, in AI summaries and in exports, and it had no effect in Fast mode. Existing monitors keep working, but the filter is better in every case.
To switch a page, open it and use the Switch to Ignore dates button on the noise card, which can also switch every page you monitor on that domain. In the page editor, the action row itself carries the same link. Because both sides of the next comparison have their dates skipped, the placeholder and the real date compare as equal, so switching does not cause a false alert.
Should I use Ignore numbers instead?
Use Ignore numbers when no numeric change on the page matters at all: view counts, stock counters, follower numbers. It is much broader, and it hides price and quantity moves as well. Ignore dates is the narrow version of the same idea and leaves every other number alone, so reach for it first when timestamps are the problem.
The two can be used together, and both live in the same Conditions & Filters section. See notification conditions and filters for the full list, and the guide to reducing false positive notifications for the other ways to quieten a noisy page.