In the digital battlefield where information wars are won and lost in milliseconds, Google’s freshness ranking system is a critical yet often misunderstood mechanism determining which content rises to the top of search results. Like a sophisticated filter sorting through the vast ocean of online information, this system goes far beyond simple publication dates, carefully evaluating the currency and relevance of web content.

For digital marketers, content creators, and businesses seeking online visibility, understanding how the freshness system works can mean the difference between ranking on the first page or getting lost in the depths of search results. This guide will unpack the nuances of Google’s approach, revealing how the search giant assesses content currency and what it means for your digital strategy.

Let’s get started!

Does your content need to be fresh to rank on Google?

The short answer is that it depends on the query. For some queries, the freshness of your content will be critical. In other cases, freshness is lower in the priority list. The long answer is that freshness is one signal Google uses to determine what ranks on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). There are many other signals and factors to consider.

Being current is what matters most when it comes to freshness

When considering the ranking phase of building a SERP, it’s helpful to consider what Google needs to succeed as a business. 

Google wants two things:

  1. Save costs/increase profit: Reduce the amount of computing effort required to build a SERP
  2. Be seen as high-quality: Provide users with the most relevant and accurate answers to what’s typed into a search bar. Without this, people will use another search engine.

Freshness is part of the quality aspect, so let’s focus on that. But before moving on, let’s define freshness.

What is content freshness?

Content freshness is the degree to which content on a website is current, relevant, and frequently updated. As defined, there are three keys to freshness. Optimizing all three can be used to help your content rank. Like a fruit, content freshness gives us an idea of what to expect once we bite into it. Fresh content should always taste good. 

One way to think of freshness and determine content quality is whether a resource is still applicable. For example, last year’s Superbowl score is less likely to change compared to reviews of the latest blockbuster movie. This means that content speaking to previous sports scores doesn’t need to be updated frequently compared to websites about current events. If all of your content is about the past, there is a trade-off here: you won’t rank well for new or trending topics. 

While we can understand freshness in the sports score example as a human, Google is a computer, so we must define freshness as an equation or number.

I believe there are two parts to the freshness equation:

  1. Resource history: Publication and last significant edit dates
  2. Consensus: Does the resource align with the facts of the topic

Resource history is simple to understand when considering freshness. Returning to the fruit analogy, how long that content has been off the vine can help you know if it’ll still taste good. However, publication and editing dates can be misleading and manipulated. There needs to be an additional factor that helps determine if the content is still applicable because that’s what matters most.

This is where the second factor comes into play.

The second factor in the freshness equation is consensus. Consensus means the content agrees with what we already know about a topic. For example, the earth is flat, sorry, flat earther friends. While it’s not a requirement to match other articles or avoid disputing facts, consensus helps ensure content is current. For example, if your content is about first aid, you’ll want to follow best practices in emergency medicine.

Mathematically, both of these are computable. The publication date can be compared to the current date, and consensus can be determined using a similarity score. There is a bit more to this, as discovered by Mark Williams-Cook and reported in Search Engine Land so if you’re interested, check out the video below.

What topics are most impacted by freshness

Some topics are more susceptible to freshness than others. For example, broad topics like travel require more freshness than gardening.

Here is a comprehensive list of topics that generally require more freshness:

  • Art
  • Business news
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Gossip, relationships and dating
  • Healthcare
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Politics
  • Restaurant reviews
  • Shopping
  • Sports
  • Stock market and finance
  • Tech and innovation
  • Transportation
  • Travel
  • World news

How to use this information

First, determine if your topic falls into a category where freshness is vital. This can be done by searching Google and checking the top results for publication dates. Are the top results close to the current date? If so, your topic might be filtered through Google’s freshness system.

If your topic is part of the freshness system, you must regularly update your content with any new information related to it. If there isn’t new news, one way to keep your content fresh is to update the TL:DR, which typically triggers a significant edit. 

Now that your content is regularly updated, it is essential to check how it aligns with others’ opinions about your topic. Again, you don’t need to follow others if you take a different approach, but your content should be grounded in common knowledge in your industry.

What’s next

I’ll be breaking down more of Google’s ranking systems in future posts, so be sure to return. In the meantime, check out our Search Engine Optimization Consulting service if you need help getting your content to rank.