Research Shows AI Prefers Fresh Content

and other local search updates

August 05, 2025

Hej 👋

Here’s a quick refresher on what I’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks 👇️

1. AI prefers fresher content

Ahrefs analyzed 17 million citations and determined that AI search prefers fresher content: on average, 25.7% newer than what ranks in traditional organic results.

So, here’s a reminder that I made you a cool free SEO tool that tells you how often you should update your content 👇️

  • It performs a useful function of analyzing the SERPs to calculate "Freshness Distance" so you know how often you need to update your content. Shoutout to Ross Hudgens for the concept!

  • I built it with AI using the Cursor IDE and Claude Sonnet 3.5 (and it was kind of a nightmare).

  • It has a cool retro video game theme, which AI whipped up super fast and easy for me.

  • It responds to the Konami Code (IYKYK) in a delightful retro video game way.

2. Google Business Profile Tier List

Last week, I published a YouTube video where I ranked every major element of the Google Business Profile from S tier to F tier, and everyone loved it!

Watch it here if you missed it 👇️

3. Did you catch our new free guide?

Miriam Ellis's latest guide contains the 12 bases that you need to cover when you embark on your local SEO journey, including:

  • Local market analysis: Understand how Google sees your market and learn how to analyze your competition.

  • Website Content Plan: Get an outline of the 10 essential pages you need before you publish your website.

  • Listings Management: Learn how to create, verify, and manage your online listings.

  • Reputation Management: Make the most out of your reviews with proper management, sentiment analysis, and review marketing.

  • Measuring Performance: Get a checklist of everything you need to monitor in order to track your progress — from website impressions to GBP conversions.

… and 7 more 😉

4. This made me laugh

This is definitely not what I meant when I said you should ask and answer questions as the business owner on your own Google Business Profile 😄

It only took them a year to reply to their own question, but hey, at least they said “thank you”.

See this post on LinkedIn!

Follow me on the following platforms for all my local SEO tips:

Darren