Content freshness for AI answers: dates that mean the facts changed

Change the sentence the date refers to

If you show ‘Updated September 2026’, the page should contain a fact that was reviewed then: a figure, a product step, a rule, or a retired recommendation.

Bumping a date in the CMS without an edit teaches readers, and eventually models, to ignore your dates.

Say what is stable and what moved

Evergreen definitions can stay stable for years. Mark the part that changed: ‘The crawl-stats threshold example was updated after the September redesign.’

Remove advice that is now false. A fresh date on a page that still recommends a retired search feature is worse than an old date.

• Update the fact, then the date.
• Note what changed on pages people cite.
• Delete steps that no longer exist.

Keep a review queue for citable pages

The pages most likely to be quoted — definitions, prices, policies, data — need an owner. A blog of opinions can age more quietly.

After a real update, request a recrawl of that URL so the quoted version has a chance to move.

Does a recent date help a page get cited?

Only if the content is actually current. A false freshness signal can spread an outdated fact with extra confidence.

Should old guides be rewritten every month?

No. Review them when the underlying tool, rule, or example changes. Stable advice should look stable.