There's no single number: refresh high-value pages on a set cadence and update when facts change. Here's a practical playbook for pacing content refreshes.
There is no single right number — the correct cadence depends on how fast each page's topic changes. Refresh high-value, fast-moving pages on a set schedule and update any page the moment its facts change; let stable explainers go longer between reviews. The playbook below turns that principle into four concrete steps you can run this quarter.
A pricing page that is six months out of date is a problem; a definition of a stable concept that is two years old may be perfectly fine. AI engines reward content that reflects current reality, and "current" is defined by the topic.
So instead of chasing a universal update frequency, sort your content by how quickly it goes stale. That sorting is what makes a refresh program sustainable rather than an endless treadmill.
Start with the pages that matter most — the ones you most want AI engines to cite for your key questions. These are usually your core explainers, product and pricing pages, comparisons, and high-traffic guides.
You cannot refresh everything well, so concentrate on the handful of pages that carry your visibility. A focused list of ten to thirty pages is far more useful than a vague intention to "keep the site updated."
For each page, judge how fast its content goes out of date and assign a tier. High-volatility pages cover pricing, features, statistics, and anything tied to a year. Medium-volatility pages cover evolving best practices. Low-volatility pages cover stable fundamentals.
The tier sets the cadence: high pages get reviewed every one to three months, medium every three to six months, and low once or twice a year. Write the tier and next-review date somewhere you will actually see it.
Turn those tiers into a recurring schedule. Put review dates on a calendar or in your content tracker so refreshes happen on time instead of whenever someone remembers.
A review does not always mean a rewrite. Sometimes you confirm the page is still accurate and move on; the discipline is in checking regularly, not in changing everything.
When a review shows a page has drifted, update it meaningfully. Correct stale figures, add developments since the last edit, sharpen the answer to the core question, refresh examples, and fix aging year references.
Then update the visible "last updated" date and the matching structured data — but only because the content genuinely changed. Honest freshness signals are the ones that earn trust over repeated crawls.
Attach a review date to every important page as you publish it, so the cadence is built in from the start rather than bolted on later. Track which pages are overdue and clear the backlog before it grows.
TrueCite's AI SEO Audit flags pages that look stale so you can prioritize the overdue ones instead of guessing. Used alongside your cadence, it keeps attention on the pages whose freshness most affects whether AI cites you.
A scheduled cadence handles routine drift, but some changes should trigger an immediate update regardless of the calendar. Treat these as interrupts to your normal cycle.
When your pricing changes, a product ships, a statistic you cite is superseded, or an external fact your content depends on shifts, update the affected pages right away. Waiting for the next scheduled review leaves stale information in front of engines and buyers.
Build a habit of asking, whenever something material changes, "which published pages now say something untrue?" and fixing those first. Between those event-driven updates, your volatility-tiered cadence keeps everything else from quietly aging.
Skip the search for one magic number. Pick your top pages, tier them by how fast they age, review them on a schedule matched to that tier, and refresh with real substance when they drift. That is a maintenance habit AI engines reward.
Using TrueCite? See the AI SEO Audit docs →