Content Freshness Analyzer
Paste your page HTML to see if your content looks current to AI search engines. Checks dates, timestamps, copyright year, freshness language, and 10 key signals that determine content currency.
How it works
Paste your HTML
Right-click your page, select “View Page Source”, and copy the full HTML.
Analyze freshness
We check 10 freshness categories including dates, JSON-LD, meta tags, and language signals.
Get recommendations
See your score, grade, and actionable recommendations to improve content currency.
Why Freshness Matters for AI Search
Content freshness is one of the key scoring categories that AI search engines use when deciding which pages to cite. Understanding how freshness signals work can give your content a significant advantage in AI-powered search results.
The Freshness and Maintenance Scoring Category
AI search engines evaluate content across multiple scoring categories, and “Freshness & Maintenance” is a distinct category that measures how current your content appears. This category examines publication dates, modification timestamps, temporal language, and site-level maintenance indicators like copyright year. Pages that score well in this category are more likely to be cited for time-sensitive queries and are given preference when multiple sources cover the same topic.
How AI Engines Determine Content Age
AI search engines piece together content age from multiple signals, not just a single date. They look at a combination of:
- Structured data dates -- JSON-LD datePublished and dateModified are machine-readable and the most trusted signals. AI engines can parse these directly without ambiguity.
- Meta tags -- article:published_time and article:modified_time provide standardized date signals that many AI crawlers check early in their parsing pipeline.
- Visible dates -- Human-readable dates in the content, especially in <time> tags with datetime attributes, confirm the structured data and build trust.
- Content language -- References to the current year, temporal phrases like “as of February 2026”, and freshness-specific language all contribute to the perceived currency of the content.
- Site-level signals -- Footer copyright year, cache-control headers, and sitemap lastmod dates provide context about overall site maintenance.
Freshness vs. Evergreen Content
Not all content needs to be “fresh” in the traditional sense. Evergreen content can still score well if it includes a recent dateModified timestamp, current-year references, and a note indicating it was recently reviewed. The key distinction is between content that is genuinely maintained and content that has been published and forgotten. AI engines can detect the difference.
The Freshness Penalty for Stale Content
When AI engines detect multiple staleness signals -- an old publication date, no modification date, outdated copyright year, and no current-year references -- they apply a freshness penalty that reduces the likelihood of citation. This is especially pronounced for queries that have a temporal component (e.g., “best tools 2026”) but also affects general informational queries where the AI wants to ensure accuracy.
Best Practices for Maintaining Content Freshness
Set both datePublished and dateModified in JSON-LD
Always include both fields in your Article or WebPage schema. Update dateModified whenever you revise the content. This is the single most impactful freshness signal.
Display a visible “Last Updated” date
Show a human-readable date near the top of your content using a <time datetime="..."> tag. This confirms the structured data and builds both user and AI trust.
Use explicit freshness language
Include phrases like “Updated for 2026”, “As of February 2026”, or “Last reviewed January 2026” in your content. This makes the currency unmistakable to both AI and humans.
Automate your copyright year
Use server-side or client-side code to dynamically set the footer copyright year. A stale copyright is one of the most common and easily avoidable freshness mistakes.
Schedule regular content reviews
Set a calendar reminder to review key pages monthly or quarterly. When you review, update the content, verify facts, and refresh all date signals. Even small updates can reset the freshness clock.
Freshness is part of a bigger picture
Content freshness is critical, but AI visibility depends on many factors working together -- structured data, content quality, technical accessibility, authority signals, and more. This tool checks the freshness dimension. For the complete picture, check your structured data, content quality, and robots.txt or run a full AEO audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Content freshness is 1 of 34 AI visibility factors
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