Stale v. Fresh
Stale v. Fresh in SEO: Which is Better?
The answer is, 'Generally fresh, but it's specifically relative'.
Basically, Google is determining a 'stale' or 'fresh' state of a document (web page) based in part on 'inbound links' and the percevied 'stale' or 'fresh' state of the document (web page) linking to the document (web page) in question. It also tracks 'clicks' or 'visits' to documents (web pages) and determines if a given search is more often satisfied by a 'stale' document (web page) or a 'fresh' document (web page) and bases rankings to some degree on these measurements.
One of the main things to remember is 'stale' and 'fresh' are determined relatively between documents (web pages) returned as the results of a search, and which is more appropriate is determined by which 'state' (fresh, stale) of document (web page) receives the most 'clicks' or 'visits' out of the result set.
It is not 'automatically bad' to have a stale document (web page), or 'automatically good' to have a fresh document (web page). The determination of which is better is based on the search terms, actual use of the documents (web pages) by visitors and the relative state of each document (web page) returned in the result set compared to the relative state of each other document (web page) returned in the same result set.
If a 'relatively stale' document(s) (web page(s)) is consistently visited more often than a 'relatively fresh' document(s) (web page(s)), then it is better for your document (web page) to be considered 'stale' when compared to other documents (web pages) within the results returned for the searched-on-phrase, but if a 'relatively fresh' document (web page) recieves a majority of the visits, then 'fresh' is better.
This scoring mechanism has an effect on the amount of relative rankings increase any single link from a document (web page) will have on any other document (web page). The reason is, the link weight passed to, and the 'fresh or stale' state of the receiving document (web page) are impacted by the 'freshness' of the link and the 'relative freshness' of the document the inbound link is placed on.
The easiest way to explain the impact of Stale v Fresh documents (web pages) in search results, link weight passed and the way they work together in Google is to answer the question:
How do Stale v Fresh Documents in SEO Impact Rankings?
"9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes: determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of the links.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes: determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of linking documents containing the links.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes: determining freshness of the links, and assigning weights to the links based, at least in part, on the freshness of the links; and wherein generating a score for the document includes: scoring the document based, at least in part, on the weights assigned to the links pointing to the document."
"15. A method, comprising: receiving a search query; performing a search based, at least in part, on the search query to identify a group of search result documents; determining a staleness of a search result document in the group of search result documents; determining whether a stale document is preferred for the search query; generating a score for the search result document based, at least in part, on the staleness of the search result document and whether a stale document is preferred for the search query; and ranking the search result document with regard to at least one other one of the search result documents based, at least in part, on the score.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining whether a stale document is preferred for the search query includes: determining whether users previously selected an older document that was ranked lower over a fresher document that was ranked higher in a set of search results relating to the search query or a similar search query; and identifying the search query as a search query for which a stale document is preferred when the users previously selected an older document that was ranked lower over a fresher document that was ranked higher in the set of search results relating to the search query or the similar search query."
If point 16 above applies, and a 'stale' document is not preferred, then by default a 'fresh' document must be preferred, indicating a 'fresh' document would be ranked more highly, meaning the 'fresh' document would generate more traffic, and therefore send you more traffic, and also increase the 'relative freshness' of your document (point 10), which would create a 'maximum boost' in your rankings based on the 'relative freshness' of your document and 'link weight' from the 'fresh link' (point 11).
Using the same logic, when you obtain a link from a 'stale' document in a search where 'fresh' is considered a benefit, you could see an increase in rankings and 'link weight' from the 'fresh link' (point 11), but since the linking document was 'stale' at the time, the linking document would not pass as much 'relative freshness' (point 10), causing the overall rankings increase to be 'minimal' or 'average' since the linking document was considered 'stale' in a search where 'fresh' is determined to be a benefit.
EXAMPLE
In a 'Fresh' Search Category
Fresh Link from a Fresh Document
(Fresh + Fresh)
There is:
A higher ranking (and traffic) for (and from) the Linking Document.
A high increase in your document's 'Relative Freshness'.
An increase in your document's rankings for a 'Fresh Link'.
Interprets to:
A maximum increase in your document's traffic and ranking.
Fresh Link from a Stale Document
(Stale + Fresh)
There is:
A lower ranking (and traffic) for (and from) the Linking Document
A low increase in your document's 'Relative Freshness'.
An increase in your document's rankings for a 'Fresh Link'.
Interprets to:
A minimal to average increase in your document's traffic and ranking.
In Short You Receive
A Maximum Ranking & Traffic Increase for (Fresh + Fresh) in a Fresh Category
A Minimum to Average Ranking & Traffic Increase for (Stale + Fresh) in a Fresh Category
Read SEO, The Science™ on RankingLabs.Com, where the 'technical side' of SEO is outlined.
Read SEO, The Art™ on RankingLabs.Com, where the 'creative side' of SEO is outlined.
