---
title: "Content Freshness Statistics: 74.8% Updated Within a Year"
url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-content-freshness
description: "Content freshness statistics: 74.8% of Google top 10 pages that show a date were updated in the last year, and the median is 113 days old. See the data."
lang: en
---
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**74.8%** of the pages ranking in Google's top 10 that show a publish or update date were published or updated in the last 12 months, and the median one was 113 days old. The first result is the freshest on the page, yet Google shows a date in its search listing only 8.6% of the time.
Analysis of 36,869 pages ranking in Google's top 10 and 243,055 top 10 search results · Google US search results, September 2026
## Key Findings
1. 1. **74.8%** of Google top 10 pages that show a date were published or updated in the last 12 months. Copy stat
2. 2. The median Google top 10 page that shows a date is **113 days** old, and 45.2% were updated in the last 90 days. Copy stat
3. 3. **82.5%** of dated pages ranking first in Google were updated in the last year, the highest of any position, against 75.3% at position 10. Copy stat
4. 4. **8.6%** of Google's #1 search results show a date in their listing, about half the 16.4% rate across Google's top 10. Copy stat
5. 5. **39.1%** of web pages ranking in Google's top 10 show a publish or update date that search engines can read. Copy stat
6. 6. **89.6%** of dated Google top 10 pages for real estate keywords were updated in the last year, against 60.2% for wedding keywords. Copy stat
7. 7. **27.7%** of Google's top 10 results for plastic surgery searches show a date in their listing, against 3.1% for real estate searches. Copy stat
## Summary
A dental practice wrote a detailed guide to teeth whitening three years ago. It ranked well for a while and slowly slid down the page. When the practice looks at the results above it now, most of the pages show an "Updated" date from the last few months: new prices, new products, new photos. Meanwhile a homeowner searching how often to replace a water heater sees "Mar 2024" under one result and skips it for one that looks newer.
Search engines and readers both care about how current a page is. A reader deciding whether to trust a price, a regulation or a product comparison checks the date first, and a page that looks abandoned loses the click even if it ranks. Google adds a date to a result's snippet, the short text under each link, when it judges the page time-sensitive and can find a date on it. For a business, knowing how fresh its competitors' pages are, and when a date helps or hurts, tells it how often its own pages need attention.
Google's top 10 skews fresh. **74.8%** of top 10 pages that show a date were updated in the last year, nearly half in the last three months, and the first result is the freshest of all at 82.5%. Yet the #1 result shows a date in its listing only 8.6% of the time, about half the 16.4% rate across the top 10: the page that wins is kept current but rarely advertises it.
## What we measured
On September 23 and 24, 2026 we analyzed Google's US desktop results for 10,000 keywords and visited every page in the top 10 organic results, the ordinary listings below the ads, 36,869 pages in all. On each page we looked for a publish or update date, in the page code or as visible "Updated" text, and took the latest one; 14,411 pages showed a date. We also ran 20,000 searches on desktop and 10,000 on mobile across 24 industry keyword sets and kept the organic top 10 results, 243,055 in all, recording whether Google showed a date in each result's snippet and how old that date was.
A page's age is the number of days between its latest date and the day we collected the results. "Updated in the last year" means the latest date is within 12 months. A result counts as showing a date when Google displays a date at the start of its snippet. The median is the middle value: half are newer, half older. Position is the result's rank on the page, from 1 at the top to 10 at the bottom.
## Three in four top-ranking pages are less than a year old
74.8%
of Google top 10 pages that show a date were updated in the last 12 months.
The typical dated page on Google's first page is young. The median is 113 days old, under four months, and 45.2% were updated in the last 90 days. At the other end, 8.7% are more than three years old. Old pages can still rank, but they are a small minority on page one.
For anyone publishing content, this sets the pace. A page that sits untouched for two years is competing against results that mostly changed within the last few months, often with newer prices, examples and details that readers prefer.
## The first result is the freshest page but rarely shows a date
Freshness peaks at the top. 82.5% of dated pages ranking first were updated in the last year, and 79.1% at position 2. From position 3 to 10, the share settles between 71% and 75%. Dates in Google's listings run the other way: 8.6% of #1 results show one, rising to a peak of 23.1% at position 8.
Dated pages updated in the last 12 months by position
1
82.5%
2
79.1%
3
72.8%
4
75.2%
5
73.9%
6
72.1%
7
71.3%
8
74.4%
9
72.6%
10
75.3%
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 36,869 pages ranking in Google's top 10 and 243,055 top 10 search results · Google US search results, September 2026
| Position | Dated pages updated in the last 12 months | Results showing a date in the listing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 82.5% | 8.6% |
| 2 | 79.1% | 9.6% |
| 3 | 72.8% | 12.1% |
| 4 | 75.2% | 15.6% |
| 5 | 73.9% | 18.5% |
| 6 | 72.1% | 21% |
| 7 | 71.3% | 22.4% |
| 8 | 74.4% | 23.1% |
| 9 | 72.6% | 21.4% |
| 10 | 75.3% | 15% |
The pages in the top two spots are the ones kept most current. But the type of page that wins the top spot rarely carries a publication date in its listing. In a separate Suff Digital study of the same searches, 27% of #1 results were homepages, against 9% to 10% at positions 6 to 10. Homepages and main service pages rarely carry a publication date, while the guides and blog posts that fill the middle of the page show their dates.
## Most top-ranking pages show no date at all
Only 39.1% of pages ranking in Google's top 10 show a publish or update date that search engines can read, and Google displays a date for fewer still: 16.4% of top 10 desktop results and 16.6% of mobile results, about one result in six. Service pages, product pages, homepages and directory listings, which make up much of Google's first page for business searches, rarely carry a date at all.
Where Google does show a date, it tends to be recent. The median date shown is 274 days old, about nine months, and 60% of the dates shown are less than 12 months old. The rest are older than a year, and those are the results a searcher looking for current advice is most likely to skip. Adding a clear "Updated" date, both on the page and in the page's structured data (the code that describes a page to search engines), is one of the simplest ways to show a page is maintained.
## Real estate results are freshest, wedding results the oldest
How fresh page one looks depends on the industry. Real estate results are the freshest by far: 89.6% of dated pages were updated in the last year, and the median page was 13 days old. Accounting, mortgage, software and higher education results are all above 82%.
Updated in the last 12 months by keyword category
Real estate
89.6%
Accounting
82.7%
Mortgage
82.5%
SaaS
82.2%
Higher education
82%
Plumbing
68.6%
Dental
65.1%
Home remodeling
64.9%
Pest control
64.2%
Weddings
60.2%
The oldest results are in weddings, where 60.2% of dated pages were updated in the last year and the median page is 240 days old, followed by pest control (64.2%), home remodeling (64.9%) and dental (65.1%). In these categories, older pages hold top 10 spots more often, so a recently updated page stands out against competitors that have not been touched in years.
## Research-heavy industries show the most dates in results
27.7%
of Google's top 10 results for plastic surgery searches show a date in their listing.
Plastic surgery leads, followed by SaaS (26.9%), accounting (25.3%) and weddings (24.1%). These are industries where people read a lot before they buy, so Google's first page is full of guides, comparisons and articles, the pages that carry dates. Real estate (3.1%), moving companies (7.3%) and auto dealers (8.2%) show the fewest, most likely because their results are led by listings, service pages and dealer sites. Real estate shows both extremes: its pages are the freshest on page one, and Google almost never puts a date in their listings.
Top 10 results showing a date by industry
Plastic surgery
27.7%
SaaS
26.9%
Accounting
25.3%
Weddings
24.1%
Home security
23%
IT services
21.5%
Insurance
13.9%
Higher education
12.1%
Senior care
11%
Personal injury law
10.4%
Auto dealers
8.2%
Moving companies
7.3%
Real estate
3.1%
## What this means for businesses
Review your most important ranking pages at least once a year, and every few months in fast-moving fields such as real estate, finance and software. Update facts, prices, screenshots and examples, then change the visible date and the modified date in the page's structured data. Never change the date without changing the content. Start with the pages that bring in customers: service pages, pricing pages and buying guides, listed in a spreadsheet with their last update date, oldest first.
Show dates where they help. On articles and guides, a clear published and updated date is part of how your listing competes, especially in research-heavy industries such as plastic surgery, SaaS and accounting, where more than a quarter of first-page results carry one. On service, product and location pages, keep the content current but leave the date off: the #1 results mostly show none, and a visible date on a page that rarely changes only makes it look old.
If you do not have time to keep pages current, seo copywriting services (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/seo-content-writing-services) can take on a refresh schedule so your key pages never go stale.
## Embed this research
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Source: 74.8% of Google Top 10 Pages That Show a Date Were Updated in the Last Year - Suff Digital
## Cite this study
APA
Suff Digital. (2026). 74.8% of Google Top 10 Pages That Show a Date Were Updated in the Last Year. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-content-freshness
Plain link
74.8% of Google Top 10 Pages That Show a Date Were Updated in the Last Year - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-content-freshness
## Frequently asked questions
### How fresh are the pages on Google's first page?
### Are top-ranking Google pages fresher than the rest?
### How many Google results show a date?
### How many top-ranking Google pages show a date?
### Which industries have the freshest Google results?
### Which industries have the most dated Google results?
## Related studies
- SEO Google's #1 Results Are Shorter Than the Rest of the Top 10: 759 Words vs 921: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-content-length
- SEO 60.4% of Google's Top 10 Results Are Gone Within a Year: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-churn-rate
- SEO Google's #1 Result Changes Once Every 208 Days on Average: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-number-one-result-turnover
- SEO Google Ignores the Meta Description for 60% of Top 10 Results: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-meta-description-rewrite-rate
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```