diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
index 1103900..db1cf42 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
@@ -103,7 +103,6 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (userOpts)
             const created = coalesceAliases(data, ["created", "date"])
             if (created) {
               data.created = created
-              data.modified ||= created // if modified is not set, use created
             }
 
             const modified = coalesceAliases(data, [
@@ -113,6 +112,8 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (userOpts)
               "last-modified",
             ])
             if (modified) data.modified = modified
+            data.modified ||= created // if modified is not set, use created
+
             const published = coalesceAliases(data, ["published", "publishDate", "date"])
             if (published) data.published = published