In 2003, when Google filed a patent named ‘Document Scoring Based on Document Content Update’, it not only offered insights into Google’s mind, but also showed the path Google would take in the future. An important update in this relation was Google’s Freshness Update, which places greater emphasis on returning fresher web content for certain queries. Interestingly, Google has scored content based on freshness for years.
How Google Scores Fresh Content
Google measures all of your documents for freshness and scores each page according to the type of search query. While some queries need fresh content, Google still uses old content for other queries.
Types of keyword searches most likely to require fresh content:
- Recent events or hot topics: “occupy oakland protest” “nba lockout”
- Regularly recurring events: “NFL scores” “dancing with the stars” “exxon earnings”
- Frequent updates: “best slr cameras” “subaru impreza reviews”
Here’s more on this. However, these are not hard and fast rules so use your judgment and don’t hesitate to experiment.
1. Freshness by Inception Date
A webpage is given a “freshness” score based on its inception date. This freshness score can boost a piece of content for certain search queries, but degrades as the content becomes older. The inception date is often when Google first becomes aware of the document.
2. Document Changes (How Much) Influences Freshness
Search engines can score regularly updated content for freshness differently from content that doesn’t change. In this case, the amount of change on your webpage plays a role. For example, a large change to the main body text has a greater impact that the change of a single sentence.
3. The Rate of Document Change (How Often) Impacts Freshness
Content that changes more often is scored differently than content that only changes every few years. For instance, the homepage of the New York Times which updates every day has a high degree of change.
4. Freshness Influenced by New Page Creation
Websites that add new pages at a higher rate may earn a higher freshness score than sites that add content less frequently. Some SEOs insist you should add 20-30% new pages to your site every year. However, you shouldn’t neglect your old content if it needs attention.
5. Changes to Important Content Matter More
Changes made in “important” areas of a document will signal freshness differently than changes made in less important content. Less important content includes navigation, advertisements, and content well below the fold. Important content is generally in the main body text above the fold.
6. Rate of New Link Growth Signals Freshness
If a webpage sees an increase in its link growth rate, this could indicate relevance to search engines. For example, if folks start linking to your personal website because you are about to get married, your site could be deemed more relevant and fresh (as a current event). That said, an unusual increase in linking activity can also indicate spam or manipulative link building techniques. Be careful, as engines are likely to devalue such behavior.
7. Links from Fresh Sites Pass Fresh Value
Links from sites that have a high freshness score can raise the freshness score of the sites they link to. For example, if you obtain a link off a fresh page – for example, the homepage of Wired.com, it’s ranked higher than a link from an old, static site that hasn’t been updated in years.
8. Changes in Anchor Text Signals may Devalue Links
If a website changes dramatically over time, logically, any new anchor text pointing to the page will change as well. For example, if you buy a domain about automobiles, then change the format to content about baking, over time your new incoming anchor text will shift from cars to cookies. So Google might determine that your site has changed so much that the old anchor text is no longer relevant, and devalue those older links entirely.
9. User Behavior Indicates Freshness
What happens when your once wonderful content becomes old and outdated? Folks spend less time on your site and press the back button to Google's results and choose another url. Google picks these user behavior metrics and scores your content accordingly.
10. Older Documents Still Win Certain Queries
Google understands the newest result isn’t always the best. Consider a search query for “Magna Carta". An older, authoritative result is probably best here and Google knows this.
Conclusion
The goal of a search engine is to return the most relevant results to users. For your part, this requires an honest assessment of your own content. Old content that exists simply to generate page views, but accomplishes little else, does more harm than good for the web.