Content refresh
A content refresh is updating an existing page, its facts, structure and date, so it stays accurate and keeps getting used in answers.
A content refresh is updating a page you already have. You correct facts that have changed, rewrite the parts that don't answer the question well, and show the date you did it.
For AI search, a refresh often does more than a new page. A page the platforms already read and cite has a head start. If its facts are out of date, every answer that uses it repeats them.
Which pages to refresh first
Start with the pages that do the most work, or the most damage:
- Pages the answers already cite, especially for your most important prompts
- Pages behind a wrong claim about you, like an old price or a service you've stopped
- Pages that are about the right subject but don't answer the question people ask
For example, Fernhill's guide "How much coffee does an office need?" is cited in a dozen answers a week. It still lists last year's prices. Updating the prices, adding a short answer at the top and a visible "updated" date takes an afternoon. A new page might take weeks to be read at all.
What a good refresh changes
Change the facts first. Then look at the opening: does it answer the question in the first few lines? Check that the text is in the page's HTML and readable without scripts. Add or update the date the page shows.
Changing only the date doesn't make a page fresher. Readers and platforms can both tell when nothing else moved.
In AnswerOrbit
Recommendations includes correcting what one of your pages says and improving a page for a prompt. Page checks test a page against eight checks, including a visible date and an opening that answers. When you've made the change, Before and after a date shows your numbers on each side of it, platform by platform.