The lifespan of SEO

Think back, how long ago did you first read about SEO?

What about business or running an ecommerce store?

How about math, even something basic like addition?

For each of those, do you think those articles are still relevant today? Or has things changed so much that the article is outdated now?

This idea came to me from a merchant who was asking about how frequently they should update SEO content.

In a previous article I wrote about how to make regular updates. Yet that article deliberately ignored how often content "should" be updated.

Each piece of content has a natural lifespan. That lifespan will vary based on the topic, ideas presented, and how quickly everything around it changes.

We must also consider the cost associated with the piece which can include time and money.

Let's look at it by how long the piece lasts and the potential costs.

Timely content

Content with the shortest lifespan include things like sale notifications and most social media announcements.

These are pieces where you're trying to get attention or to show that you're still around. They should be cheap to produce and easy for someone to consume.

SEO-wise this content won't have much of an impact. It's so fleeting that by the time the search engines have seen and analyzed it, the moment is gone.

This sort of content is rarely revised or updated.

Short-lived content

Short-lived content can be considered anything that is relevant for a year or so.

This includes product launches, news items, and surface-level articles. It can also include deeper articles but on topics that move fast, e.g. AI, SEO, fashion trends. If you frequently revise your product catalog, this may also include product descriptions and product recommendations.

Short-lived content is a staple of quick SEO results. Often it's cheaper to build than longer-lived content and can take advantage of cultural trends. You just have to be ready to discard it once it's out-lived it usefulness, as updating it can cost more than starting fresh.

Long-lived content, evergreen

Long-lived content are pieces that can last for years. Some parts might get outdated but overall 90% of the value is there. Product descriptions for long-term products and company pages are usually long-lived.

Training and how-to content are other prime examples for Shopify stores. An article and video on how to repair a necklace is likely going to be the same for the next decade or longer.

There's also a sub-group of content, called evergreen content. These are things that are long-lived and can be seen as relevant nearly forever. That necklace repair piece applies today just as it would many years in the future or in the past.

In SEO long-term content often takes more resources to produce but it can pay off for much longer. Most of the highly-competitive pages in the search results are this type of content that someone published in the past.

With this content, revising and updating is often cheaper and worth the hassle. That's why you see so many "Best ___ Products of 2025" get updated every year with a new year and a few minor changes.

Updating incorrect content

Another type of content are pieces that have become incorrect. That could be because of new discoveries, new ways of working, or just honest mistakes.

Often a revision can clear up any minor mistakes but bigger ones, or fundamental changes in the key ideas might require a full rewrite. Depending on the content it might be worthwhile to throw it away and start from scratch.

For example, an article about driving through large puddles of water may need a small revision for electric cars to warn them about submerging batteries. While an article about how to transfer data to a floppy disk wouldn't be worth updating since the technology is obsolete.

Another great example is if you're getting lots of questions about a product. It's worth updating the product description rather than starting from scratch.

Don't sweat lifespan too much

Even though this sounds very structured, your content's lifespan isn't that strict. If you're creating content regularly, you'll always have some that are aging out or should be revised.

The important time to consider content lifespan is when you're creating the content. Is this piece you're working on going to be Timely, Short-Lived, or Long-Lived? Are you investing enough into it so that it'll do its best (or are you over-investing)?

Knowing how you're going to use a content piece can make creating it much easier.