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Content freshness, credibility, and SEO—Drupal's notification tool

Author Lisa Smith

As content ages, it can become unengaging and inaccurate, damaging readers' trust and diminishing our SEO efforts and brand. 

The impact of out-of-date content

  • Content freshness factors into search engine algorithms, which are designed to provide useful, relevant search results to readers. They can typically "see" the date of publication and last update. 
  • Keyword relevance shifts over time, so aging content can lose SEO power. 
  • References, reports, polls, etc., can age quickly, giving readers the impression that we’re not as current as we should be. 
  • In some cases out-of-date content can give incorrect, misleading information.

Drupal's one-year notification system

To help us stay on top of aging content, the Dev team created a one-year notification system for Drupal pages. You may receive a notification alerting you that your page has reached one year without having been updated. That means it’s time to review the page and make some decisions: 

  • Are there any outdated references on the page? 
  • When did you last research keywords and phrases for relevance?
  • Can you freshen up your copy and make it more brand and reader friendly? 
  • Is it time to delete the page?  

Notifications go to the page owners' email addresses, usually the person who leads a business unit's web content. The notification system clock begins with the last page update. 

These notifications are not foolproof. Even minor edits reset the date on the tool. We recommend reassessing your pages periodically as part of your team’s editorial schedule. 

As a reminder, any references to predictions or activity in the market should be removed within six months.  

"Content freshness signals to search engines that your website is active, authoritative, and trustworthy. It also helps you attract and retain your visitors, who are more likely to engage with fresh and relevant content."1

"As with other search engines, Google's algorithm aims to return relevant and quality results for its users…content loses its value over time because customer needs change, and the target keywords you used to improve search rankings when you first wrote the content might not be relevant anymore."2

  1. How do you measure the impact of content freshness on your rankings?" LinkedIn, Aug. 17, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/advice/0/how-do-you-measure-impact-content-freshness.
  2. "The Importance of Refreshing Outdated Content," WSI, wsiworld.com, Nov. 21,2022. https://www.wsiworld.com/blog/the-importance-of-refreshing-outdated-content.