Through patent filings over the years, Google has explored many ways in which it could use “freshness” in an article as a ranking signal. In 2003, Google engineers filed a patent that rocked the SEO world. The patents not only offered insight into the minds of Google engineers, but apparently also provided a roadmap for Google’s algorithm for the coming year.

In this post, there are not all the ways that try to describe the ways in which Google can determine freshness to rank web pages, but instead focuses on the areas that are likely to be influenced by SEO.

When “queries deserve freshness”

In an article by Amit Singhal he explained how “Different searches have different freshness needs.”

The hint is that Google measures the freshness of all your documents and then scores each page, based on the type of query.

Singhal outlines the types of keyword research that are likely to require new content:

  1. · Recent events or hot topics.

  2. Regularly recurring events.

  3. · Frequent updates.

Google can determine exactly which queries require new content by monitoring the web and its own big data store, including:

  1. · Search volume: These are the queries per impalement of a particular term.

  2. News Coverage and Blogs – If multiple news organizations start writing about the same topic, it’s probably a hot topic.

  3. · Social networks: a spike in mentions of a particular topic can indicate that the topic is “trending”.

While some queries need new content, others may be better served by old content.

Fresh is often better, but not always.

So here are 10 ways Google can determine the freshness of your content.

1. Freshness by start date

Initially, a web page may be given a “freshness” score based on its start date, which decays over time. This refresh score can boost some content for certain search queries, but it degrades as the content ages.

The start date is usually when Google first notices the document, such as when Googlebot first indexes a document or discovers a link to it.

“For some queries, older documents may be more favorable than newer ones. As a result, it may be beneficial to adjust a document’s score based on the difference (in age) from the average age of the result set” .

2. The amount of change influences freshness: how much

The age of a web page or domain is not the only freshness factor. Search engines may score regularly updated content because freshness differs from content that doesn’t change. In this case, the amount of change on your web page plays a role.

For example, changing a single prize won’t have as big of an impact on updates as a big change to the main body.

Also, a document that has a relatively large amount of its content updated over time may receive a different rating than a document that has a relatively small amount of its content updated over time.

In fact, Google can choose to ignore small changes entirely. So when you update a link on a page, you need to intelligently update the text around it. This way, Google is less likely to ignore the change.

Consider the following:

“In order not to update the freshness of each link to a minor edition of a small unrelated part of a document, each updated document can be tested for significant changes (for example, changes to a large part of the document or changes to many different parts of the document). document) and updating a link may be updated (or not updated) accordingly.”

3. Changes in interior content are more important: how important

If changes are made to “important” areas of a document, they will signal freshness differently than changes made to less important content.

Less important content:

  1. JavaScript.

  2. Comments.

  3. advertisements.

  4. Navigation.

  5. repetitive stuff.

  6. Date/time labels.

By contrast, “important” content often means the main body text. So if you’re simply changing your sidebar or updating your footer copy, that probably won’t be considered a sign of freshness.

This brings up the problem of timestamps on a page. Some masters like to update the timestamps regularly, sometime in an attempt to fake freshness, but there is conflicting evidence as to how well it works. Suffice to say, freshness signals are arguably much stronger when you keep the content on the page itself and up-to-date.

4. The rate of changes in documents: how often

Content that changes more frequently is rated differently than it only changes every few years.

For example, consider The Hindu’s home page, which is updated every day and has a high rate of change.

“For example, a document whose content is frequently edited may rate differently than a document whose content remains static over time. Also, a document that has a relatively large amount of its content updated over time may rate differently to a document that has a relatively small amount of its content updated over time”.

Google may also treat links from these pages differently. For example, a new “link of the day” from the Yahoo home page may be given less importance than a link that remains more permanently.

5. Creating a new page

Rather than revise individual pages, new websites often add entirely new pages over time. Websites that add new pages at a higher rate may get a higher update score than sites that update content less frequently.

“It can also be determined based on one or more factors, such as the number of ‘new’ or unique pages associated with a document over a period of time. Another factor could include the proportion of the number of new or unique pages associated with a document over a period of time versus the total number of pages associated with that document”.

Some webmasters advocate adding 20-30% new pages to their site each year. Personally, I don’t think this is necessary as long as you’re sending out other signals of freshness, like keeping your content fresh and regularly getting new links.

6. The growth rate of new links signals freshness

Not all update signals are restricted to the page itself. Many outward signs can also indicate freshness, often with powerful results.

If a web page sees an increase in its link growth rate, this could indicate a relevancy signal to search engines. For example, if people start linking to your personal website because you’re about to get married, your site might be considered more relevant and new (as far as this current event goes).

“…a downward trend in the number or rate of new links (eg, based on a comparison of the number or rate of new links in a recent time period versus a prior time period) to over time could tell the search engine 125 that a document is out of date, in which case the search engine 125 may lower the document’s score.”

Warning: An unusual increase in linking activity may also indicate spam or manipulative linking techniques. Search engines possibly reduce this behavior. Natural link growth over time is usually the best bet.

7. Links from new sites contain new value

If your site gets links from those sites that have a high score, they can increase the site’s new score. Links from sites that have a high update score can increase the update score of the sites they link to.

For example, if you get a link from an old, static site that hasn’t been updated for years, it may not provide the same level of update value as a link from a new page.

8. Traffic and engagement metrics can indicate freshness

When Google presents a list of search results to users, the results the user chooses and how much time they spend on each one can be used as an indicator of freshness and relevance.

“If a document is returned for a given query and, over time, or within a given time window, users spend more or less time on average in the document given the same or similar query, then this can be used as an indication that the document is new or obsolete, respectively”.

You can interpret this to mean click-through rate is a ranking, but that’s not necessarily the case. A more nuanced interpretation might say that the increase in clicks tells Google that there is strong interest in the topic, and this page, and others like it, match the user.

9. Anchor text changes can devalue links

If a web page’s theme changes drastically over time, it makes sense that any new anchor text pointing to the page should also change.

For example, if you buy a domain for race cars and then change the format to baking content over time, your new incoming anchor text will change from cars to cookies.

Google might determine that your site has changed so much that the old anchor text is now out of date and devalue those old links altogether.

The lesson here is that if you update a page, don’t stray too far from the original context or you may risk losing value from your pre-existing links.

10. Bigger is often better

Google understands that the most recent result is not always the best. Consider a search query for “Magna Carta”. An older, authoritative result may be better here.

In this case, having a fairly old document can help you.

Google’s patent suggests that they determine the refresh requirement for a query based on the average age of the documents returned for the query.

“For some queries, documents with content that has not recently changed may be more favorable than documents with content that has recently changed. As a result, it may be beneficial to adjust a document’s score based on the difference from the average date- of change of the result set”.

A good way to determine this is to simply Google your search term and measure the average start age of the pages returned in the results. if they appear to be more than a few years old, a fresh page is hard to compete with.

Your goal should be to update your site in a timely manner that benefits users, with the goal of increasing click-throughs, user engagement, and new links. Here are some of the clearest signals you can pass on to Google to show that your site is new and deserving of a high ranking.