[IN THE NEWS]
AI
•
FEBRUARY 3, 2026 — Forbes cited Seer's content recency research in an article about customer targeting in the age of AI. As the Forbes Business Council article by Adam Coffey mentioned, Seer data has shown AI is more likely to reference new or recently updated content.
What We Found
We found AI models have a strong bias toward fresher content: nearly 65% of AI bot hits targeted content published in the past year. Our analysis also revealed that 89% of all bot hits occurred on content published within three years (2022-2025).
The Bigger Picture
Our data matches what others in the industry have noted based on their own tests, including Ahrefs (who analyzed 17 million citations). AI models lean toward citing recently published content over older pieces — and Ahrefs found that AI models actually emphasize freshness more compared to traditional search results.
Our Take: What This Means for Marketers
The bottom line is recency matters when it comes to having your content appear in LLM responses and AI search results. We've tested this with our own clients and seen significant increases in AI traffic (+300% for one client) after refreshing outdated content. Marketers should be prioritizing key pages for their brand and ensuring the content on those pages stays fresh.
But you should also pay attention to trends in your vertical. We found that different industries show distinct patterns in how content age flows back to LLM visibility.
Regarding recency patterns across verticals (from our study): "Financial Services demand extremely fresh content due to fast-changing regulations and information. Travel allows for a bit more leeway — evergreen content still performs well, but recent updates make a difference. Energy demonstrates a longer lifespan for content, especially when it’s evergreen and educational."
Resources
Check out the Forbes article: Get In Front Of Your Target Customers In The Age of AI With This Simple Process
Review our original research: Study: AI Brand Visibility and Content Recency