Does updating your site content frequently really have SEO benefits?

• I've been told repeatedly as an SEO that updating site content frequently can lead to higher rankings in Google. Is this an SEO myth or can pushing my clients to update their sites with content more regularly really help them achieve better organic rankings?

Answer: It's an old Internet marketing mantra that frequently updated content will get you better rankings and more traffic. There's some truth to this; but it's not as simple as updating your site on a regular basis. First, let's look at the reasons why Google favors fresh content, and then look at the type of content that should be used in order to meet Google's preferences.

Google prides itself on delivering accurate, fresh and relevant content to searchers. It's been noted that Google can, and most often does, notice and index brand-new or newly changed text on your Web site rapidly. This is often done within just a few hours and since Google's Web 2.0 Mayday update this practice has only accelerated.

As of May 2010, Google now offers its users the ability to select search results based on their "freshness." When you perform a search in Google you'll see this feature in the left-hand sidebar of the search results page under the toggle link more search tools. If you click on this option, you can refine your search by the date when the content was updated, from "anytime" to "today" with a bunch in between and an option for a "custom search range." The inclusion of this type of specificity would seem to clearly indicate that Google cares about when the content was updated and uses this to give preference to newer content.

SEO professionals and webmasters have noticed for awhile that Google seems to give a freshness boost...