{"id":38413,"date":"2025-10-30T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=38413"},"modified":"2025-11-10T04:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T09:44:09","slug":"republishing-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/republishing-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Republishing Content for SEO &amp; AI: How to Update Posts (Not Just Change Dates)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">Content updates have gone from necessary evil to SEO trend, thanks to a few significant studies showing <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content\/\">AI assistants favor fresh content<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But updating website content shouldn\u2019t just mean changing a publish date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a chance to improve user experience, build your owned audience, and shape how AI represents your&nbsp;brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ll walk you through tactics that help you accomplish all of the above\u2014without eating up days of your&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Watch tutorial on YouTube<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>\n<\/p><div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-nxt7ajezkpi\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n\t<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n\t\t<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-nxt7ajezkpi\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/nxt7AjezKpI?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/nxt7AjezKpI?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Why updating and republishing content still matters in 2025\" data-section=\"why-updates-matter\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_47m277c5yngb\"><\/a>Why updating and republishing content still matters in&nbsp;2025<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Not every blog post you publish will rank in search engines. Even if you\u2019ve done&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\">keyword research<\/a>&nbsp;and written&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-write-great-content\/\">great content<\/a>, it\u2019s not always possible to get things right on your first attempt.<\/p>\n<p>For example, we published a post about \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-reclamation\/\">link reclamation<\/a>\u201d in 2018. It wasn\u2019t a complete failure, but it never got more than an estimated 350 organic visits per&nbsp;month.<\/p>\n<p>So, in August 2024, we rewrote and republished the post. Traffic has not doubled but <em>tripled<\/em> since&nbsp;then.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-192313\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/302-percent-uplift-for-updating-and-republishing-content-Ahrefs-Site-Explorer-chart2.png\" alt=\"302 percent uplift for updating and republishing content Ahrefs Site Explorer chart\" width=\"950\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/302-percent-uplift-for-updating-and-republishing-content-Ahrefs-Site-Explorer-chart2.png 950w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/302-percent-uplift-for-updating-and-republishing-content-Ahrefs-Site-Explorer-chart2-680x328.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/302-percent-uplift-for-updating-and-republishing-content-Ahrefs-Site-Explorer-chart2-768x370.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\"><\/p>\n<p>Regular content updates trigger Google to resurface your pages, earn you spots in AI answers, and turn one-time visitors into repeat readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_6jpsdg790onx\"><\/a>You can revive slipping rankings and reclaim lost traffic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Refreshing content is crucial for traditional search visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google has a search ranking system called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/query-deserves-freshness-qdf\">query deserves freshness<\/a>\u201d where it prioritizes content that has been recently published or updated\u2014it\u2019s usually for timely content like recent events, trending topics, breaking news, and even \u201cbest\u201d product recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So updating website content can help you revive slipping rankings and reclaim lost traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content updates also impact user signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, when you have an outdated title, you tend to get fewer clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AI57zwRjBo0\">Google exploit<\/a> discovered by <a href=\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/markseo\">Mark Williams-Cook<\/a>, Google uses CTR when <em>re-ranking<\/em> your content, and have built \u201cClick probability\u201d models that can change based on things like how you modify your page&nbsp;title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_uvd7cga7ktkb\"><\/a>AI relies on search content for fresh information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most AI assistants fetch fresh search results through the process of retrieval augmented generation, otherwise known as&nbsp;RAG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re pulling fresh information from search indexes, not just relying on static training data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-481\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-481 tablepress-responsive tablepress-ahrefs-width-720px\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">AI assistant<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Official search index\/crawler<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Suspected search index\/crawler<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Suspected future search index\/crawler<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">ChatGPT<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Bing (<a href=\"https:\/\/help.openai.com\/en\/articles\/10093903\">OpenAI Help Center<\/a>)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Google Search (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/chatgpt-is-reportedly-scraping-google-search-data-to-answer-your-questions-heres-how\/\">ZDNET<\/a>)<br>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Own index (<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1WfKxSJIJLnYfxEpyjfwtsyBUNI8XazY0\/view\">Leaked memo<\/a>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Gemini<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Google Search (<a href=\"https:\/\/ai.google.dev\/gemini-api\/docs\/google-search\">Google AI Devs<\/a>)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Google Knowledge Graph (<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/knowledge-graph\/\">Google Dev Docs<\/a>)<br>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Perplexity<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">PerplexityBot \/ own index (<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.perplexity.ai\/guides\/bots\">Perplexity docs<\/a>)<br>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Undisclosed third-party crawlers (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91144894\/perplexity-ai-ceo-aravind-srinivas-on-plagiarism-accusations#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20think%20there%20is%20a%20basic%20misunderstanding%20of%20the%20way%20this%20works%2C%E2%80%9D%20Srinivas%20said.%20%E2%80%9CWe%20don%E2%80%99t%20just%20rely%20on%20our%20own%20web%20crawlers%2C%20we%20rely%20on%20third%2Dparty%20web%20crawlers%20as%20well.%E2%80%9D%C2%A0%C2%A0\">Fast Company<\/a>)<br>\n and Google Search (<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/openai-chatgpt-serpapi-google-search-results-461226\">SEL<\/a>)<br>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Copilot<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Bing (<a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/topic\/understanding-web-search-in-microsoft-365-copilot-chat-94c45d32-1a77-4f82-8e05-58dfb9afac48\">Microsoft Support<\/a>)<br>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">-<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Claude<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Brave Search (<a href=\"https:\/\/app.vanta.com\/anthropic\/trust\/iz673w96495gyjer8h78n\/updates#:~:text=Anthropic%20Subprocessor%20Changes\">Anthropic Trust Center<\/a><br>\n \u2192 noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/simonwillison.net\/2025\/Mar\/21\/anthropic-use-brave\/\">Simon Willison<\/a>)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">-<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-481 from cache -->\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_tkgc2t3bfis9\"><\/a>AI cites \u201cfresher\u201d content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to our own <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content\/\">AI content freshness research<\/a>, URLs cited by AI assistants are 25.7% \u201cfresher\u201d compared to URLs in the&nbsp;SERPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ChatGPT is the most likely to cite newer pages, and Perplexity and ChatGPT actually order their citations from newest to oldest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1648\" class=\"wp-image-192252\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-1.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs AI Content Age research. Bar chart titled &quot;Average age of cited content&quot; based on 17,000,000 citations analyzed. Two sets of bars compare Organic SERP (blue) versus AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Gemini (red). For &quot;Average days since publication,&quot; organic shows 1432 days while AI shows 1064 days. For &quot;Average days since last updated,&quot; organic shows 1047 days while AI shows 909 days.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-1.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-1-413x425.png 413w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-1-768x791.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-1-1491x1536.png 1491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_js58mbv48krn\"><\/a>ChatGPT even has a \u201cURL freshness score\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/chris-long-marketing_its-finally-here-we-performed-the-first-ever-activity-7383880531245129728-58HZ?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAABoEm7QBekJrKEnvC5H6nTAmYwOb4R1k5GE\">Chris Long<\/a> recently found that ChatGPT fan-out queries regularly retrieve \u201c2025 content\u201d, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/metehanyesilyurt_lets-crack-the-code-and-let-me-tell-you-activity-7379894794984124416-HSd4?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAABoEm7QBekJrKEnvC5H6nTAmYwOb4R1k5GE\">Metehan Ye\u015filyurt<\/a> discovered that ChatGPT actually has a \u201cURL_freshness_score\u201d, which creates a kind of recency bias in its cited responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also <a href=\"https:\/\/metehan.ai\/blog\/i-found-it-in-the-code-science-proved-it-in-the-lab-the-recency-bias-thats-reshaping-ai-search\/\">writes about<\/a> a university study where researchers added artificial dates to various pieces of content, and observed them jumping up 95 places in the rankings of 7 different AI models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1366\" height=\"1434\" class=\"wp-image-192253\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-2.jpg\" alt=\"LinkedIn post by Metehan Ye\u015filyurt discussing AI search bias toward recent content. The post explains Waseda University research showing that major AI models (GPT-4o, GPT-4, GPT-3.5, LLaMA-3, Qwen-2.5) heavily favor newer content when artificial publication dates are added to search results. Key findings include: top-10 results shifted 1-5 years newer on average, individual content jumped 61-95 positions, up to 25% of relevance decisions reversed, and models reversed judgment 1 in 4 times based solely on timestamps, not quality or accuracy.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-2.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-2-405x425.jpg 405w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-2-768x806.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_epsfgvbcj6zr\"><\/a>It\u2019s not just about robots\u2014readers still matter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Traffic is dropping, but many users will still end up clicking through to your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your examples are outdated or your data is years old, that\u2019s a great way to build a negative brand perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republishing content is therefore just as much about reputation management as it is about visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that reputation matters more than ever now that direct traffic has become a&nbsp;moat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re trying to build a destination site or forge a community, irrelevant content isn\u2019t going to have users seeking you out or returning to your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fresh content is what will keep people coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_q6qtu3rljq7f\"><\/a>Your content shapes AI\u2019s perception of your&nbsp;brand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Updating website content doesn\u2019t just get your brand cited more often in AI, it gets it mentioned more <em>accurately. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you republish content, you can make sure AI assistants have the right information about things like your pricing, USPs, features, and benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keeping those \u201cbrand facts\u201d up-to-date is crucial now that any piece of web content can be used as the basis for an AI response.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"There are two ways to republish content\" data-section=\"update-types\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_yfp7bju2gltj\"><\/a>There are two ways to republish content<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/zero-click-search\/\">Zero-click search<\/a> means that users don\u2019t end up visiting your site as often. So, the effort:reward ratio of updating content has decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The question is, can you justify spending time and energy on refreshing content if you\u2019re getting less exposure in return?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Ahrefs we regularly refresh our content, but we break those updates into two categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_l0qfkmwy8a9f\"><\/a>1. Quick updates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I think of these as \u201cminimum viable content updates\u201d. What are the smallest tweaks you can make that lead to outsized returns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_9bb9w6841a6g\"><\/a>2. Rewrites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The second type of update is full-on rewrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"348\" class=\"wp-image-192254\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-3.png\" alt=\"A spreadsheet showing three columns: Topic, Type, and Assigned to. Three items are listed: &quot;llm citations&quot; assigned to Mateusz as a New article (green), &quot;LLM optimization&quot; assigned to Louise as a Quick update (red), and &quot;SEO Basics&quot; assigned to Louise as a Rewrite (purple). Each column header has a filter icon.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-3.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-3-680x116.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-3-768x131.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-3-1536x261.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You usually do these updates when you have a secondary business goal\u2014beyond just improving organic traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you\u2019ve released a new product that\u2019s relevant to the topic of an old blog, then you might want to do a full rewrite of that blog instead of a quick update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that case the content refresh doesn\u2019t just have the goal of increased <strong>search<\/strong> visibility, it also has a <strong>customer support<\/strong> goal or a <strong>sales<\/strong> goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the rest of this article, I\u2019m going to focus on \u201cQuick updates\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to update your content in 8 steps\" data-section=\"how-three\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_ri9unaan17lv\"><\/a>How to update your content in 8&nbsp;steps<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>There are no hard-and-fast rules for updating content. Ok, I lied, there is one: Don\u2019t <em>just<\/em> change the publish date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7384174543336022016\/\">Roxana Stingu<\/a> points out<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cGoogle spent a lot of time refining how it handles [updates] and it can look back across multiple versions of a page and assess whether a change is meaningful enough outside of just getting a new timestamp.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, changing a publish date might be working for AI visibility\u2014but it works until it doesn\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7384174543336022016?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7384174543336022016%2C7384206896448040960%29&amp;dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287384206896448040960%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7384174543336022016%29\">Mark Williams-Cook<\/a> says\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cGoogle also has a binary trust signal when it comes to things like lastmod. So abuse it if you want to lose&nbsp;it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Given that a number of AI citations are Google rankings in disguise, I\u2019d say it\u2019s best to avoid wholesale content republishing with zero actual modifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Great. Now that we\u2019ve got that out of the way, let\u2019s get into a few practical ideas of how you can go about updating your content.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Revive your top pages\" data-section=\"top-pages\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_xy9q2rclsu5b\"><\/a>1. Revive your top&nbsp;pages<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When you start off, you want to find <strong>lower effort, higher reward<\/strong> updates. So, here\u2019s an idea of how to do&nbsp;that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Head to the Top Pages report<\/strong> in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs Site Explorer<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Drop in your site<\/strong>\u2014either the domain or a specific subfolder. Below, I\u2019ve gone with the Ahrefs Blog.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Set up a traffic filter<\/strong>, and set that to \u201cdeclining\u201d. You want to choose a monthly traffic number that is towards the top end of what you usually achieve from your best, most visible pages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Set a low KD filter<\/strong> (e.g. up to 40). Content isn\u2019t always the reason your posts stop ranking. It can also be because the pages outranking you have more high-quality backlinks and, therefore, \u201clink authority\u201d. Setting a low Keyword Difficulty score will show you update opportunities in a less competitive SERP.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Select the date range<\/strong> you want to monitor the decline over. For me, that\u2019s one&nbsp;year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sort by negative<\/strong> traffic change. So you\u2019re basically zeroing in on the top pages on your site that have dropped off lately.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Check <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-changes\/\">Content Changes<\/a>.<\/strong> This shows you which pages have been updated over your date&nbsp;range.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1513\" class=\"wp-image-192255\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-4.jpg\" alt=\" Ahrefs Site Explorer Top Pages report for ahrefs.com\/blog with numbered orange circles highlighting the workflow: (1) Site Explorer tool, (2) domain input field, (3) Traffic filter showing &quot;From 600, Declined&quot;, (4) KD filter set to &quot;Up to 40&quot;, (5) the results section, (6) Change column showing traffic percentage changes, and (7) Content changes column showing labels like &quot;Overhaul,&quot; &quot;Minor,&quot; and &quot;Moderate&quot; for different pages.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-4.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-4-575x425.jpg 575w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-4-768x567.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-4-1536x1135.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of your team might have already pushed an update recently, so aim to avoid pages with \u201cMajor\u201d or \u201cOverhaul\u201d changes, like our <code>\/most-searched-people\/<\/code> blog\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1513\" class=\"wp-image-192256\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-5.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs Site Explorer Top Pages report for ahrefs.com\/blog showing pages filtered by &quot;Traffic: From 600, Declined&quot; and &quot;KD: Up to 40.&quot; The report displays 13 pages with declining traffic, including various marketing and SEO-related blog posts. The &quot;most-searched-people&quot; page (highlighted in yellow) shows an &quot;Overhaul&quot; content change status (highlighted in orange)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-5.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-5-575x425.jpg 575w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-5-768x567.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-5-1536x1135.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead pay attention to the pages that haven\u2019t been republished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content with \u201cMinor\u201d changes will usually only have had tiny tweaks made, like dynamic content blocks or widgets changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Articles with \u201cModerate\u201d changes typically have had a couple of sentences rewritten. Both make for good update opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a side note, you can now save this filter configuration as a preset, and come back to it whenever you want to update your top&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1145\" height=\"698\" class=\"wp-image-192257\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-6.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Site Explorer showing an orange box highlighting the Presets feature with a dialog box open showing how to save filters as a preset named &quot;Top pages to update.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-6.png 1145w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-6-680x415.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-6-768x468.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1145px) 100vw, 1145px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Get update ideas from search competitors\" data-section=\"search- competitors\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_6u46qjsmhmeg\"><\/a>2. Get update ideas from search competitors<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Ahrefs Content Explorer<\/a> you can analyze the content of a specific domain, then hit the \u201cRepublished pages\u201d filter to see which pieces of content have been most recently updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1157\" height=\"667\" class=\"wp-image-192258\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-7.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs Content Explorer showing a dropdown menu for the &quot;Republished pages: This year&quot; filter. An orange arrow points from the main filter to the expanded menu showing options including &quot;Republished&quot; content. The search is for &quot;site:hubspot.com inurl:blog&quot;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-7.jpg 1157w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-7-680x392.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-7-768x443.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1157px) 100vw, 1157px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, I\u2019m digging into all of the content on the HubSpot blog that\u2019s been republished over the last&nbsp;year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can add in your domain if you want to check your own content updates, but in this instance I\u2019m conducting a sort of competitor analysis on HubSpot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re not a direct competitor of ours, but we create a lot of overlapping content. So, my aim here is essentially to recreate their most successful updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I especially like using the Content Explorer view for updates because it gives you the chance to see multiple trend lines at&nbsp;once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1156\" height=\"671\" class=\"wp-image-192259\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-8.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Content Explorer showing search results for &quot;site:hubspot.com inurl:blog&quot; with filters applied for republished pages from this year. Four blog posts are highlighted showing positive traffic trend spikes \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-8.png 1156w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-8-680x395.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-8-768x446.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1156px) 100vw, 1156px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can scroll through the list of content, instantly spot the traffic spikes, and understand which updates have been a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, if you\u2019re auditing your own content, you can quickly grok which updates didn\u2019t work, so you can try&nbsp;again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I will say is that not all of these trend peaks and dips are due to sites republishing content. There are other reasons for traffic change, like algorithm updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But generally speaking, this report is a good springboard for deeper analysis of \u201csuccessful\u201d content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1157\" height=\"667\" class=\"wp-image-192260\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-9.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Content Explorer results with a detailed card expanded for &quot;The top search engines other than Google [+ some you might not expect]&quot; article from blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/top-search-engines. The card shows page traffic of 12.6K with an orange traffic trend graph spiking\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-9.png 1157w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-9-680x392.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-9-768x443.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1157px) 100vw, 1157px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This HubSpot blog caught my eye because we also have a blog on the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-search-engines\/\">Top search engines<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m interested in what learnings we can take from HubSpot\u2019s update that we can apply to our own blog update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve found a successful update idea, you can take the URL over to Site Explorer to do a deep-dive analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start off by following the trend line, and look out for the green circles. This is another element of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-changes\/\">Content Changes tool<\/a> I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"598\" class=\"wp-image-192261\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-10.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Site Explorer Performance chart displaying organic traffic decline from approximately 60K in September 2024 to around 10K by August 2025. An orange arrow points to late September 2025, where a green dot indicates a notable uptick in traffic beginning around September 23, 2025, with traffic rising to approximately 15-20K. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-10.png 1200w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-10-680x339.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-10-768x383.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-10-400x200.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you see a circle preceding a traffic spike, then it\u2019s a tell-tale sign that traffic has improved as the result of a content refresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The size of the circle indicates the amount of content that was changed, and the placement of the circle on the x-axis signifies the date that the content refresh occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, in this example, HubSpot made \u201cOverhaul\u201d changes to their article in early September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you click on that circle, you will see a side-by-side comparison of the article content before and after the update, so you know exactly what content has been changed and&nbsp;added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1217\" height=\"630\" class=\"wp-image-192262\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-11.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs Content Changes calendar view and side-by-side comparison of HubSpot's &quot;Top Search Engines&quot; article on 30 Aug 2025 (red) and 5 Sep 2025 (green).\n\nLots of content is crossed out from August.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-11.jpg 1217w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-11-680x352.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-11-768x398.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1217px) 100vw, 1217px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see, HubSpot have rewritten a fair chunk of the blog content here and, as a result, have managed to claw back 10K+ monthly organic visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1198\" height=\"594\" class=\"wp-image-192263\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-12.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Site Explorer Performance chart showing organic traffic for a page from September 2024 to September 2025. Two orange callout boxes highlight key data points: June 20, 2025 showing 2,731 organic traffic (in red), and September 23, 2025 showing 12,573 organic traffic (in green), demonstrating significant traffic recovery after a prolonged decline from around 60K to under 10K.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-12.png 1198w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-12-680x337.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-12-768x381.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d call that a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, this is a view of our own blog on the same topic of \u201ctop search engines\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1028\" height=\"632\" class=\"wp-image-192264\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-13.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Site Explorer Performance graph showing organic traffic with a dramatic spike on March 3, 2025 reaching 651 visits, followed by sustained traffic around 200-300 visits through mid-2025, then declining to 0 by October 21, 2025. The graph spans from October 2024 to October 2025, with green dots marking significant changes and an orange line showing the traffic pattern.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-13.png 1028w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-13-680x418.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-13-768x472.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1028px) 100vw, 1028px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It isn\u2019t doing too well right&nbsp;now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We updated it back in March and it saw a cursory spike, but since then it\u2019s flatlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The aim is to learn what HubSpot got right with their update, so that we can revive our own content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can repeat this analysis for multiple competitors to get ideas for topics to create and update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s tricky to know what\u2019s going to actually drive traffic in a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/zero-click-search\/\">zero-click search<\/a> landscape, so this is a strategy that can give you reassurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can validate whether traffic opportunities exist before you start updating your content.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. Get update ideas from competitors in AI\" data-section=\"ai-competitors\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_u9atfxihafp8\"><\/a>3. Get update ideas from competitors in&nbsp;AI<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If your ultimate goal is AI visibility, you can study your competitors\u2019 updates, and see if they are winning new AI citations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what I&nbsp;mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve headed to the Cited Pages report in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Ahrefs Brand Radar<\/a>, our AI visibility tool, and dropped in the HubSpot blog as a page URL filter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"665\" class=\"wp-image-192265\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-14.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Brand Radar Cited Pages interface showing a citations graph showing growth from around 50 citations in August to over 500 by September 25, 2025. A filter for &quot;Page URL: Contains blog.hubspot.com\/marketing&quot; is applied (highlighted with orange arrow), showing the URL: blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/competitive-analysis-kit\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-14.png 999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-14-638x425.png 638w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-14-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Their most-cited article in AI Overviews is one on the topic \u2018Competitive analysis\u2019. This piqued my interest because we have an article on this topic, and I know it\u2019s lost traffic lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HubSpot\u2019s blog started gaining momentum around April time. I clicked the arrow next to the URL for more information, and hit \u201cInspect\u201d to see what might have caused this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"664\" class=\"wp-image-192266\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-15.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Cited Pages report showing citations for blog.hubspot.com with filters for AI Overviews. An orange arrow points to the Inspect feature in the right-click menu.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-15.png 825w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-15-528x425.png 528w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-15-768x618.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This pulled up the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-changes\/\">Content Changes<\/a> tool, which showed me exactly <strong>when<\/strong> content updates had been made (via the calendar view), and exactly <strong>how<\/strong> the content had been updated (via the side-by-side text comparison view).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1114\" height=\"707\" class=\"wp-image-192267\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-16.jpg\" alt=\"An Ahrefs Content Changes tool screenshot showing a side-by-side comparison of two versions of a HubSpot blog post about competitive analysis from April 4, 2025 and April 11, 2025. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-16.jpg 1114w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-16-670x425.jpg 670w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-16-260x166.jpg 260w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-16-768x487.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1114px) 100vw, 1114px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lo and behold, HubSpot had pushed a major update to that article in April\u2014April 11th to be precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1196\" height=\"372\" class=\"wp-image-192268\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-17.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Content Changes tool - calendar view - showing page change comparison interface for HubSpot's competitive analysis blog post. An orange arrow connects the date selector showing &quot;11 Apr 2025&quot; to a specific cell in the activity heatmap grid in April. The interface allows comparison between two versions dated &quot;4 Apr 2025&quot; and &quot;11 Apr 2025&quot; with options to check for AI content on both dates.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-17.png 1196w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-17-680x212.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-17-768x239.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1196px) 100vw, 1196px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Around the same time that the article started gaining more traction in AI Overviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1998\" height=\"1326\" class=\"wp-image-192269\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-09-25-at-11-31-56-png.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Brand Radar Cited Pages showing AI Overview citations growth for HubSpot blog content. A timeline graph displays citation growth from approximately 50 in August to over 500 by September 25, 2025, with a data point highlighted on April 11, 2025 showing 151 citations for blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/competitive-analysis-kit. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-09-25-at-11-31-56-png.png 1998w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-09-25-at-11-31-56-png-640x425.png 640w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-09-25-at-11-31-56-png-768x510.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-09-25-at-11-31-56-png-1536x1019.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1998px) 100vw, 1998px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On April 11th, HubSpot\u2019s blog was cited in 151 responses. Now it\u2019s cited in 476 responses. So, AI visibility has multiplied by&nbsp;3X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if the update wasn\u2019t the sole reason for this growth, it seems to only have helped.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. Validate whether the content is worth updating\" data-section=\"validation\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_xat8aq5xrppw\"><\/a>4. Validate whether the content is worth updating<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got an idea of the content you <em>can<\/em> update, next you need to think about whether you <em>should<\/em> update it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_gjk7cv6o9ee9\"><\/a>Does it still have Business Potential?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re updating content, you need to reconsider whether the topic is still relevant enough to your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1422\" class=\"wp-image-192270\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-19.png\" alt=\"&quot;Business Potential&quot; scoring framework chart on blue background showing four score levels (3, 2, 1, 0) with their meanings and examples. Score 3: &quot;irreplaceable solution&quot; (example: &quot;how to see competitor's backlinks&quot;). Score 2: &quot;helps quite a bit, but isn't essential&quot; (example: &quot;SEO tips&quot;). Score 1: &quot;can only be mentioned fleetingly&quot; (example: &quot;marketing ideas&quot;). Score 0: &quot;absolutely no way to mention our product&quot; (example: &quot;social media marketing&quot;). URL shown: https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/b2b-content-marketing\/\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-19.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-19-478x425.png 478w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-19-768x683.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-19-1536x1365.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Top-of-funnel informational content isn\u2019t getting the same traffic it used&nbsp;to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, ask yourself: have I lost traffic because this topic isn\u2019t actually that relevant to my brand anymore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If yes\u2014it\u2019s probably not worth updating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_fw1y7vur78u\"><\/a>Is it a content issue or a backlinks issue?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Content issues are fixable. A refresh could help you reclaim one or two positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But backlink issues signal an authority problem, which is much harder to solve\u2014building authority can take months of outreach and&nbsp;PR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take the example of our post ranking for the keyword \u201cInternal linking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going by Ahrefs\u2019 SERP Overview tool, we can see the majority of posts that outrank us have higher UR scores, indicating higher page-level authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1496\" class=\"wp-image-192271\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-20.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs SERP overview for the keyword &quot;internal linking&quot; dated October 23, 2025. The UR (URL Rating) column is highlighted in orange, showing various results including Yoast (UR 21), Backlinko (UR 26), Reddit (UR 0), SEMrush (UR 19), Moz (UR 22), Wikipedia (UR 12), Mangools (UR 7), and an Ahrefs glossary page (UR 7, highlighted in yellow).\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-20.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-20-582x425.jpg 582w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-20-768x561.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-20-1536x1122.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this case, we probably have a link authority issue, not a content issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas, if we check the SERP Overview for \u201cWhat is local SEO\u201d we see a few lower-authority pages from lower-authority sites outranking us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1373\" class=\"wp-image-192272\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-21.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs SERP overview for &quot;what is local seo&quot; dated October 20, 2025, showing organic search results with the UR (URL Rating) column highlighted in orange. Results include Local SEO articles from SEMrush (UR 24), Mailchimp (UR 18), Inmoment (UR 6), Smartling (UR 7), Nutshell (UR 6), and Ahrefs (UR 30, highlighted in yellow). Each result displays metrics for Words, DR, Backlinks, Domains, and Traffic.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-21.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-21-634x425.png 634w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-21-768x515.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-21-1536x1030.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This tells us that we probably have a content issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we do a content refresh and republish the post targeting \u201cWhat is local SEO\u201d, it\u2019s highly likely we could rank at least one or two positions higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_la8hvjm5u9rx\"><\/a>Does demand still exist for the&nbsp;topic?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Analyze whether your traffic dropped because demand dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If search volume is declining, there\u2019s diminishing returns in updating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take the term \u201cFractional SEO consultant\u201d\u2014it peaked around November 2024 but now seems to be falling out of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1195\" height=\"429\" class=\"wp-image-192273\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-22.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for &quot;fractional seo consultant&quot; in the United States, dated October 29, 2023. Shows Keyword Difficulty of 0 (Very easy), Search volume of 250 (Growth -14%, Forecast -75%, with an orange box highlighting the declining trend line), Traffic Potential of 30 (Value $1.3K), and additional metrics including CPC $13.00, Mobile 13%, Desktop 87%, and Web 100% search type.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-22.png 1195w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-22-680x244.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-22-768x276.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In cases like this, it may not be worthwhile updating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_imug31f1szc9\"><\/a>Has search intent shifted?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Search intent often shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLLM\u201d used to mean \u201cMaster of Laws\u201d but by 2024, \u201clarge language model\u201d content dominated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can spot <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-intent-shift\/\">search intent shifts<\/a> in the SERP Overview tool\u2014look for lots of \u201cLost\u201d and \u201cNew\u201d rankings, plus a low SERP similarity score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"743\" height=\"587\" class=\"wp-image-192274\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-23.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs SERP overview comparison for the keyword &quot;llm&quot; between August 7, 2022 and September 6, 2024. An orange box highlights the &quot;SERP similarity&quot; metric showing 4 similar results, 7 new, 6 lost, and 2 declined. The comparison shows how results shifted from law degree programs to large language model content.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-23.jpg 743w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-23-538x425.jpg 538w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 743px) 100vw, 743px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When intent has shifted drastically, decide whether your content is still relevant for the&nbsp;user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_1rezlery09tm\"><\/a>Are SERP features killing your clicks?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In our research, we found that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks\/\">AI Overviews reduce CTRs by 34.5%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If an AI Overview began appearing right around the time your traffic began dropping, it\u2019s possible that it\u2019s not worthwhile updating that content unless the keyword has high Business Potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can check when SERP Features show up using the SERP Overview tool in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Ahrefs Keyword Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_5bz71yi0nl8b\"><\/a>Are there other signs of&nbsp;life?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Check metrics like time on page and views per&nbsp;visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If engagement is still strong despite traffic drops, the content may be worthy of a refresh. You can use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/web-analytics\">Ahrefs Web Analytics<\/a> for&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"878\" height=\"499\" class=\"wp-image-192275\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-24.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Web Analytics dashboard  showing page performance metrics for &quot;.ahrefs.com\/&quot; filtered to &quot;https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-audit\/&quot; from November 18 to December 18, 2024. An orange arrow highlights &quot;Time on page&quot; showing 5m 1s. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-24.png 878w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-24-680x386.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-24-768x436.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 878px) 100vw, 878px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"5. Fill topic gaps\" data-section=\"fill-topic-gaps\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_y97mgu4v9zs7\"><\/a>5. Fill topic&nbsp;gaps<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve found the content you want to refresh, and you\u2019ve made sure it\u2019s worthwhile updating\u2014now it\u2019s time to actually <em>do the thing<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The easiest starting point is filling your topic gaps. You can take your article over to the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/ai-content-helper\">Ahrefs AI Content Helper<\/a> to do&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It grades your content against top-ranking pages, so you can spot and fill gaps in your topic coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1197\" height=\"701\" class=\"wp-image-192276\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-25.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs AI Content Helper interface showing a draft for &quot;16 Top Search Engines in 2025 (Including Google Alternatives)&quot; article. A Topics panel is open showing a content score of 50.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-25.jpg 1197w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-25-680x398.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-25-768x450.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1197px) 100vw, 1197px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I analyzed our \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-search-engines\/\">Top search engines<\/a>\u201d article alongside HubSpot\u2019s and it was immediately clear that our blog has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to topic coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While HubSpot scores 77 out of 100, we only score&nbsp;50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1256\" height=\"728\" class=\"wp-image-192277\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-26.jpg\" alt=\"A layered view of 2 Ahrefs AI Content Helper screenshots, showing Ahrefs' Top Search Engines blog alongside HubSpot's Top Search Engines blog. Ahrefs achieves a score of 50, while HubSpot earns 77\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-26.jpg 1256w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-26-680x394.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-26-768x445.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1256px) 100vw, 1256px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At this point, you can go through the individual topics you\u2019re missing out on, and start enriching them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cHighlight\u201d feature really helps&nbsp;here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It maps the topic scores to the precise sentences in your blog, so you know exactly which parts of your content to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1108\" height=\"654\" class=\"wp-image-192278\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-27.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs AI Content Helper showing content about Brave Search with blue highlights on key sentences. An orange arrow points to the Topics panel on the right, which shows &quot;Comparison of Search Engine Features&quot; (score 59) as a highlighted topic, along with other topics like &quot;Emerging and Alternative Search Engines&quot; (78) and &quot;Guidance on Choosing a Search Engine&quot; (55).\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-27.jpg 1108w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-27-680x401.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-27-768x453.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1108px) 100vw, 1108px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"6. Follow on-page SEO best practices\" data-section=\"step-three\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_c3bf81oym74x\"><\/a>6. Follow on-page SEO best practices<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You want to focus on the things you can control and update swiftly, like on-page SEO factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&nbsp;means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reviewing your title tags, and meta descriptions. Even though they often get rewritten by Google, during testing Google may opt for your version if it drives more clicks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improving alt text, schema, and internal links<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adding in header tags to more cleanly structure your article<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1478\" class=\"wp-image-192279\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-28.jpg\" alt=\"Infographic showing correct HTML heading hierarchy. Title: &quot;Headings (including H1 tags) improve user experience by creating hierarchy.&quot; Two examples compared: Left (red X, &quot;Hard to skim&quot;) shows incorrect order - h3 Page title, h2 Sub-subheading, h1 Subheading. Right (green checkmark, &quot;Easy to skim&quot;) shows correct order - h1 Page title, h2 Subheading, h3 Sub-subheading. Both examples include placeholder text lines beneath each heading.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-28.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-28-460x425.jpg 460w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-28-768x709.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-28-1536x1419.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\">On-Page SEO: How to Optimize for Robots and Readers<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/llm-search\/#step-two\">What We Actually Know About Optimizing for LLM Search<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"7. Provide information gain\" data-section=\"information-gain\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_q3yph21ilps3\"><\/a>7. Provide information gain<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Last, but by no means least, you need to think about the thing that will make users actually want to read your refreshed content: information gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think: SWIFT\u2014So What\u2019s In It For&nbsp;Them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it\u2019s great to use the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/ai-content-helper\">AI Content Helper<\/a> to fill gaps, if you treat entities and topic suggestions as just a box to tick, then you\u2019re probably going to create run-of-the mill, conveyor-belt content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas, if you start with a hook, quote, piece of data, or basically any unique angle, you can focus on framing that information in the most interesting way, and include the things that make people actually want to read&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how can you find ideas for information gain topics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It really depends where your audience is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to hang out there, and essentially listen out for&nbsp;ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" class=\"wp-image-192280\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-29.png\" alt=\"A Google search for &quot;site:ahrefs.com\/ top search engines&quot;. App icons appear above for TikTok, Gmail, YouTube, Discord, Facebook, Slack, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Quora, Spotify, and Instagram.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-29.png 960w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-29-680x383.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-29-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For inspiration, I check discussions happening in communities like <a href=\"https:\/\/theseocommunity.com\/\">The SEO Community<\/a> on Slack, I subscribe to the kinds of newsletters my audience do, I listen to relevant podcasts, search youtube video transcripts, do Google <code>site:<\/code> searches to find our own internal data or insights to repurpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are so many ways to find interesting new or unseen information!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"8. Re-distribute, measure, and iterate\" data-section=\"redistribute-measure-iterate\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-192251-_xsh2a8bmws0n\"><\/a>8. Re-distribute, measure, and iterate<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve updated your content, re-distribute it to wring as much value out of the republished content as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then check whether your updates worked. I use a combination of <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-changes\/\">Content Changes<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/web-analytics\">Web Analytics<\/a> for&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a post I updated about \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\">On-page SEO<\/a>\u201d saw a 36% uplift in organic traffic according to Site Explorer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1025\" height=\"534\" class=\"wp-image-192281\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-30.png\" alt=\"A performance graph showing organic traffic over time from April 23 2025 to October 22 2025. The graph displays a declining trend from around 8K to a low point in August, followed by a recovery. An orange arrow pointing upward highlights a &quot;36% uplift&quot; in traffic, with a green dot marking August 31 as the turning point where traffic began increasing to approximately 6K by late October.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-30.png 1025w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-30-680x354.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/word-image-192251-30-768x400.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1025px) 100vw, 1025px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, treat quick updates as ongoing tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Re-run the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/ai-content-helper\">AI Content Helper<\/a> reports on previously updated content to spot new topic&nbsp;gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The great thing about quick updates is that visibility bumps compound over time with small improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-192251-_j390rdn5ih1e\"><\/a>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Content updates are about more than chasing visibility\u2014they\u2019re about keeping your brand relevant, accurate, and worth returning to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Focus on the pages that matter, make meaningful improvements, and remember that fresh content is as much for your readers as it is for the algorithms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But updating website content shouldn\u2019t just mean changing a publish date. It\u2019s a chance to improve user experience, build your owned audience, and shape how AI represents your&nbsp;brand. I\u2019ll walk you through tactics that help you accomplish all of the<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":38415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,73,335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[464],"class_list":["post-38413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-search","category-content-marketing","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Republishing Content for SEO &amp; AI: How to Update Posts (Not Just Change Dates)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Republishing content can boost AI visibility, give you a new chance to rank &amp; turn visitors into repeat readers. 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