Does a Stagnation filter exist?

Does Google penalise if a site doesn't change?

[chucky]

Does Google penalise if a site doesn't change? I've had a highly ranking site for a number of years but recently it's dropped in ranking. I haven't updated the site for abouut a year but it's still just as relevant.

[dickbaker]

Maybe it depends upon how competitive the terms are.

There's a site I did for a retail store back in 2001. The last time they had me make any changes to it was at least two years ago, but it still ranks in the top 5 or so on Google for the terms the owner wanted.

For my own site, which is in the same niche, I try to add new content regularly.

[soapystar]

it almost looks this is done by sector....so in some sectors they expect frequent updates and in others they dont..and being outside the norm is not good..however some sectors are not handled correctly and sites with the fresher content are getting hit..

[Quadrille]

All things are relative.

If you have stood still, you can bet your boots your competitors have not. 'Living' sites are much more likely to attract and sustain links from strangers, and sites that get updated tend to get more regular Google visits.

I don't think it's a filter; it's just life on the web!

[soapystar]

classic stuff is travel sites. These city widgets can change name and branding very frequently. As the name changes these old copy and paste sites not updated for 3 years plus rank with these widgets that dont even exsist any more. Its very easy to spot how large updates affect these pages. An update on the same page to current information will see that page tank.

[Hissingsid]

Does Google penalise if a site doesn't change?

No!

Sid

[trinorthlighting]

I would say a stagnation filter does exist and you can fall down in rankings.

A good example of this is if you had a site "How to use Microsoft Windows" and it was geared towards Windows 3.1

I would venture to say that over time that the "windows xp" and "windows vista" how to sites could knock you down.

It might be a good time to go through the content and add a little bit more info on your site to bump it back up. The good thing is you have site age on your side.

[pageoneresults]

Google have a few patents out there that pertain to this question. There is content that is naturally static, it doesn't change much. And then there is content that is a constant moving target such as news stories, blog entries, etc.

If you are in a competitive space, you are most likely and naturally going to be adding new content and also providing a moving target for the bots. As mentioned above, it is all relative.

[soapystar]

exactly. Add to that mix the algo for "against site tweaking" and it becomes a messy soup with a lot of fine lines being sailed against, intentionally or not. personally im not liking that i keep hitting results from 2005 or earlier for a lot of tech queries.