Outdated content quietly loses visibility. Even pages that once ranked well can decay over time as search engines and AI assistants increasingly prioritise freshness, especially for evolving or time-sensitive topics.
Some searches naturally require up-to-date answers. Often referred to as “Query Deserves Freshness,” this principle rewards recently updated content when users expect current information.
Even for evergreen topics, regular updates improve resilience against algorithm changes.
Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot prioritise fresh content in much the same way traditional search engines do. For queries that evolve over time, freshness becomes a critical signal for ranking and AI citation. This means that high-quality content can still lose visibility if it is not updated regularly. However this does not mean that you need to create new pages to satisfy the freshness requirements. Refreshing existing content is often easier and likely more efficient depending on your scale.
Refreshing established pages retains backlinks and credibility while signaling relevance to AI systems and search engines.
Audit data highlights a clear freshness preference:
Freshness is a critical visibility signal for both LLMs and search engines. Regularly refreshing existing content helps maintain rankings, reduce volatility, and increase the likelihood of being surfaced and cited in AI-driven search experiences.