The 13-Week Freshness Signal
AI systems use content freshness as a trust and relevance signal. Content that hasn’t been updated within approximately 13 weeks (one quarter) begins to be down-weighted for queries where recency matters.
For evergreen content (definitions, historical information), freshness matters less. For content about tools, pricing, statistics, strategies, or current practices, freshness is a significant ranking and citation factor.
13 weeks
The freshness threshold for time-sensitive content
What Counts as a Meaningful Update
- Adding new data or updated statistics with current sources
- Updating recommendations based on new information
- Adding a new section covering a new aspect of the topic
- Correcting outdated information (old prices, deprecated features)
- Adding new examples, case studies, or before/after results
- Changing a few words without adding substance
- Updating the date without changing content
- Rearranging sections without adding new information
- Adding filler paragraphs to increase word count
- Minor grammatical corrections
A Practical Update Schedule
Monthly
Every 4 weeks- Pricing pages
- Tool comparisons
- Statistics-heavy content
Quarterly
Every 13 weeks- Pillar guides
- How-to content
- Industry overview content
Bi-annual
Every 26 weeks- Evergreen definitions
- Historical/explanatory content
- Glossary entries
Update workflow per page (15\u201330 minutes)
- 1Review existing content for outdated information
- 2Update statistics with current data and sources
- 3Add any new relevant information or examples
- 4Update the visible “Last updated” date on the page
- 5Update dateModified in Article schema
- 6Re-validate schema with Rich Results Test
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the content type. Pricing and comparison pages should be updated monthly. Pillar guides and how-to content quarterly (every 13 weeks). Evergreen definitions bi-annually. The key is making meaningful updates (new data, corrected information, new sections) — not just changing the date.
The 13-week rule suggests that content not updated within approximately 13 weeks begins to be down-weighted by AI systems for queries where recency matters. This aligns with quarterly information cycles in most professional domains. Always update the dateModified field in your Article schema when you make meaningful content changes.
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