Q: Does updating dates and 'freshness' matter for topical authority, or is that a myth?

Q: Does updating dates and 'freshness' matter for topical authority, or is that a myth?

Short answer: freshness matters for some queries and is mostly irrelevant for others, and faking it by only swapping the date does nothing. Topical authority is built on coverage and trust, which don't decay on a clock. Freshness is a separate, query-dependent signal layered on top.

Where freshness genuinely helps: topics that change (tool pricing, platform features, statistics, anything with a 'best X for 2025' intent). Where it doesn't: stable, definitional topics that don't change year to year.

The lazy move, bumping the published date with no real edits, doesn't fool anything and can erode trust if readers notice unchanged content with a new date.

In practice: refresh pages when the underlying facts actually changed, and update the date honestly when you do. For evergreen definitional pages, leave them alone and invest the time in coverage instead.

Freshness questions? Send them in.