How Often Should You Update Your Website?

Business owners often ask how often they need to touch their website to keep Google happy. The honest answer: it depends on the page, and 'freshness' is more nuanced than posting for the sake of posting. Here's a realistic framework.

Freshness isn't one thing

Google values freshness differently by topic. A news story needs to be current; a page explaining a stable concept doesn't. Chasing freshness on evergreen content by making pointless edits does nothing. The signal that matters is a site that's genuinely maintained and a business that's clearly active.

Your core pages: update when reality changes

Service pages, your homepage, and location pages should be updated when something real changes — new services, new pricing, new information, or simply better content. There's no schedule; there's accuracy. An outdated core page hurts more than an unedited one, but busywork edits help nothing.

Your blog: a steady, real cadence

This is where regular publishing pays off. A blog that posts useful content consistently signals an active, engaged business and gives you more chances to rank for the questions customers ask. A blog frozen a year ago signals the opposite. Consistency matters more than volume; a couple of solid posts a month beats ten thin ones then silence.

Refresh what's already ranking

Some of the highest-return work isn't new content at all. Updating existing pages that rank on the edge of page one — improving the content, adding what's missing, correcting anything stale — often moves them up faster than starting from scratch. Freshness applied to near-winners is efficient.

What not to do

Don't change dates without changing content, spin up filler to look busy, or edit for the sake of editing. Google is good at spotting cosmetic freshness. Real updates that improve the page are what count.

The practical rule: keep core pages accurate, publish genuinely useful content on a steady cadence, and periodically refresh pages that are close to breaking through. That's the freshness that actually helps.