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Comments on Is fresh content always needed for SEO?

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Is fresh content always needed for SEO? Question

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I've seen recommendations that search engines like "fresh" content and that I should be continually launching new content on my website for SEO.

Is that always the case? That seems to directly contradict other SEO advice I've seen that says that search engines like "evergreen" content.

Does it matter what niche my website is in? How do I know if I should be focusing on content freshness or writing content that will rank well for the long term?

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The flip side of "fresh" content is "evergreen" content which is useful for a long period of time. News sites need lots of fresh content because most users need the latest news, not news that is weeks old. Outside of news, you are likely to create content that will be useful and relevant for a long time, maybe even for years.

That isn't to say that once you have good coverage of a topic, that you never need to write more about it. Most niches have new developments that require new content. Search engines and users prefer sites that provide articles about recent developments over sites that have nothing but years-old content.

There are also niches that require content updates periodically (like yearly.) For example, users want to know that buying guides and reviews take the latest products into account. A new-car buying guide that didn't have any information on cars for this model-year wouldn't be well received.

When updating content it is important to prominently feature an update date on the page. I've even seen sites put "for <current year>" into the page title so that users can see right in the search results that the content has been freshened.

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New pages vs. edits? (3 comments)
New pages vs. edits?
Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 1 year ago

New content could mean whole new pages, or it could mean edits to existing ones (or both of course). Editing evergreen content to keep it up to date seems like it would be valuable; is it, from an SEO perspective? Could you address edits, or is that a large-enough topic that I should ask a separate question?

Stephen Ostermiller‭ wrote over 1 year ago

I added some info about niches that require periodic content updates. If you want to know if you should focus energy on new content or on updating content, I think you should ask a new question with same specifics about your use case.

Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 1 year ago

Thanks for the addition and the suggestion! Good point that that depends a lot on use cases; that buying guide from 2015 is not evergreen. :-)