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Google’s freshness update was an important ranking algorithm change which has introduced a trend to make search results more accurate and responsive to the user’s intent.
The result of the update was the ability to add time as a benchmark for search queries. This has allowed Google to display content that is in trend, appears regularly (such as an annual event), or is subject to frequent updates (such as new product models).
The modernization of freshness was made possible by the infrastructural changes he introduced Caffeine updatewhich allowed Google to expand web indexing to an unprecedented extent, allowing Google to view the latest content that is literally currently relevant.
An update of the algorithm was published on November 3, 2011.
Google official blog post stated that the change affected approximately 35% of search queries and significantly affected approximately 6 to 10% of search queries.
This is a significant change in the ranking of websites.
Why is it called the freshness algorithm?
The name “freshness” for this update is taken directly from an official Google post:
“Google Search uses a freshness algorithm designed to give you the latest results.”
What made this algorithm update possible
The reason Google released the Freshness Update was that the new caffeine indexing system gave Google the ability to process multiple web pages faster.
The caffeine infrastructure has allowed Google to deliver fresh results with a higher level of relevance by using a more precise definition of what freshness means.
Specifically, Google found that some queries have three different types of time-related importance factors.
There are three types of time-related queries:
- Recent events: These are search queries that relate to trends or current events that are generally related to the news.
- Regular events: A Google post provided an example of annual events, elections, sports scores, TV shows, and corporate earnings reports.
- Frequent updates: These are time-related queries for topics that are frequently updated but are not events or trendy topics. Examples are search queries for products that are frequently updated.
Freshness for trendy themes and recent events
Trending topics
Google shows new results for certain queries, especially if they are in trend.
Here is an example with a keyword LIMOEwhich is the name of Google’s algorithm:
LIMoE is a key phrase that did not exist until recently. In the example above, Google shows the latest search result.
Recent events
When the algorithm was released, there was no such thing as it is The best stories news for current events.
At the top of the search results, Google simply displayed news results related to recent events.
Today, Google will show a The best stories section when a search query has recently type of event relevant components.
For example, a search query for Ukraine shows the following search result:

The Best Stories feature is displayed for recent events that are in trend. This is an example of a recent result of the Recent Events type.
Freshness for regularly recurring events
This type of freshness refers to events that happen regularly but are not necessarily in trend.
Google has used the example of a sports-related search query as a recurring type of search query.
The NBA search shows recent sports results:

The freshness type of recurring events will need to be updated regularly. The sporting event will need to be updated on a daily or weekly basis when the sport is in season.
The recurring event of the presidential election will need to be updated every four years.
Frequent refreshment
The third type of freshness is related to search queries on topics that are always updated, such as queries related to product reviews.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy phone has been around for a number of years and has crossed several models.
Ideally, when searching for the Samsung Galaxy Review, the best scores will be rated on the latest models.
This is the search result for this search query:

Query deserves freshness (QDF)
Google’s update of the freshness algorithm wasn’t the first time Google has used time-related matching ranking factors.
In 2007, Amit Singhal (then a Google engineer and senior vice president) introduced the Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) algorithm in an interview with the New York Times.
In an interview with the New York Times, he explained what QDF is:
“Mr Singhal presented the problem with freshness and explained that simply changing formulas to display more new pages often results in lower search quality.
He then revealed his team’s solution: a mathematical model that tries to determine when users want new information and when they don’t.
(And yes, like all Google initiatives, it had a name: QDF, for “query deserves freshness.”)
… The QDF solution revolves around determining if a topic is “hot”.
If news sites or blog posts actively write about a topic, the model believes that this is the one that users are more likely to want current information. “
The difference between QDF and the freshness algorithm update is that the QDF algorithm was more limited in scope and less nuanced than the freshness algorithm.
In short: the difference between QDF and the freshness algorithm
- QDF checked to see if the topic was popular among news sites and blogs.
- The freshness algorithm examined the search queries to determine if they belonged to one of the three categories of queries that required fresh results.
As already mentioned, Caffeine web index systemwhich was introduced five months before the freshness algorithm, provided Google with the ability to provide search results that were relevant for the minute.
A fact to keep in mind with QDF is that the 2007 Query Deserves Freshness algorithm is ahead of the 2010 Freshness algorithm.
What can be confusing is that Google employees continued to rely on concept that the query deserves freshness after 2010. Also in 2012, Matt Cutts in a Google video for webmasters referred to the concept that certain queries deserve freshness.
Nevertheless, these are two different algorithms that were presented three years apart and apparently did different things, as the technology that enabled the freshness algorithm in 2010 (the online caffeine indexing system) did not exist in 2007.
Is fresh content required for ranking?
Not all search queries require fresh results. There are a lot of search queries evergreen.
Evergreen, given the information needs of search queries, means that the response to some queries doesn’t change much, if at all.
An example of an evergreen content is a recipe. The method of preparation of chocolate chip cookies has remained relatively the same for many years.
Sometimes there are cultural changes that affect evergreen content, such as the trend of low-fat or low-sugar cookies, which can change the way cookies are made.
But the cookie recipe is still evergreen.
The freshness algorithm starts only if the search query meets one of the following three categories:
- Recent events.
- Regularly recurring events.
- Frequent updates.
A myth that surrounds fresh content
There is SEO strategy which recommends changing the release date or change date every week, month, or year because, according to the “Google loves fresh content” strategy.
There are even WordPress plugins that will massively update dates after an update.
But the truth has always been that the idea of “Google loves fresh content” is a myth.
Even three years after the introduction of the freshness algorithm, Google engineer Matt Cutts still explained that freshness is not always a ranking signal.
Matt explains it to you Video 2013, where he answers how important freshness is for ranking.
“How important is freshness?
So there’s a bit of an interesting twist to this issue, which isn’t just about something being updated frequently… in terms of pages on your blog or your site, that should automatically be ranked higher.
So I wouldn’t have such an interpretation of freshness. … Not every query deserves freshness.
So when it comes to navigation, when it comes to evergreen content, sometimes people search for content in long form or do more research, then freshness wouldn’t count as much.
… we have over 200 signals that we use and the thing I wouldn’t do, a trap, a trap I wouldn’t fall into, is to say, okay, I need to have new content, so I’m going to randomly change something words on my pages every day and I will change the author’s date to make it look like I have new content.
This is not the thing that would probably lead to higher rankings.
And if you’re not in the news field, if you’re not in some sort of niche or topic area that would really deserve a lot of fresh stuff, then that’s probably not something you should be worried about at all.
… There is some evergreen content that lasts and withstands the test of time. Maybe it would be better to work on articles like this …
… If you’re writing about video games, there’s a lot of current news, then it’s good to try to be fresh and make sure you have, you know, content that’s particularly important. ”
Who needs to fit into the freshness algorithm
Posting new content regularly is generally a good strategy for many types of sites.
It is especially important to publish current content for websites on certain topics.
Websites on topics related to rapidly changing consumer trends, topics related to regular events, and websites on frequently updated products require a constant flow of fresh content.
The advantage of publishing news and trendy content is that it can generate high levels of traffic, sometimes huge traffic.
The downside is that after a few weeks, it may no longer be fresh or relevant to the same search queries that triggered huge traffic when the topic was in trend.
It’s best to understand if your content topics fall into one of three categories of freshness, and if so, get down to writing.
If the content theme does not fall into these categories, the theme is evergreen.
And it’s not a bad idea if you have a mix of fresh and evergreen themes to give visitors who come for freshness a chance to stay because of the evergreens.
Knowing what the Freshness Update is about is still helpful for developing a content strategy because Google today has a better understanding of which queries deserve freshness, creating opportunities for publishers to gain more traffic.
More sources:
Selected image: A. Azarnikova / Shutterstock
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