Content Refresher
Identifies outdated content, scores decay/freshness, prioritizes refresh work, and produces update plans with GEO and republishing guidance.
Quick Start
Find content on [domain] that needs refreshing
Which of my blog posts have lost the most traffic?
Refresh this article for [current year]: [URL/content]
Update this content to outrank [competitor URL]: [your URL]
Create a content refresh strategy for [domain/topic]Skill Contract
Expected output: a scored diagnosis, prioritized repair plan, and a short handoff summary ready for memory/audits/.
- Reads: the current page or site state, symptoms, prior audits, and current priorities from CLAUDE.md and the shared State Model when available.
- Writes: a user-facing audit or optimization plan plus a reusable summary that can be stored under
memory/audits/. - Promotes: blocking defects, repeated weaknesses, and fix priorities to
memory/open-loops.mdandmemory/decisions.md. - Next handoff: use the
Next Best Skillbelow when the repair path is clear.
Handoff Summary
Emit the standard shape from skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format.
Data Sources
Use ~~analytics, ~~search console, and ~~SEO tool when connected; otherwise ask for traffic data, ranking history, publish dates, candidate URLs, and competitor examples. See CONNECTORS.md.
Instructions
When a user requests content refresh help:
- CORE-EEAT Quick Score -- Estimate all 8 dimensions, prioritize red/yellow areas, and hand off to content-quality-auditor for full scoring when needed.
- Identify Refresh Candidates -- Use age, dated claims, declining traffic, lost rankings, broken links, SERP shifts, and missing topics.
- Analyze Page-Level Decay -- Compare 6-month-old vs current performance, keyword deltas, SERP intent, competitor updates, and the why-refresh rationale.
- Define Updates Needed -- Capture outdated elements, competitor/PAA gaps, SEO updates, GEO updates, links, images, sources, and dates.
- Create Refresh Plan -- Specify title, structure, new sections, refreshed statistics, internal/external links, images, and validation requirements.
- Write Refresh Content -- Draft updated intro, replacement sections, refreshed facts, FAQ answers, and Changes Made notes.
- Optimize for GEO -- Add 40-60 word definitions, quotable statements, Q&A, dated citations, and standalone factual statements.
- Set Republishing Strategy -- Use published-date update for 50%+ new content, last-updated date for 20-50%, original date for <20%; update schema, sitemap
lastmod, cache, Search Console, and 4-6 week monitoring. - Create Refresh Report -- Summarize completed changes, expected outcomes, owners, next review date, and open loops.
Reference: references/refresh-templates.md has compact templates for steps 2-9.
Example
User: "Refresh my blog post about 'best cloud hosting providers'"
Output: CORE-EEAT quick score flags weak Referenceability, Experience, and Trust; recommends pricing refresh, broken-link fixes, author credential additions, affiliate disclosure, and a Changes Made block ready for republish.
Reference: See references/refresh-example.md for the full worked example and checklist.
Tips for Success
Prioritize by ROI/search demand, make substantive improvements instead of date-only edits, add stronger evidence than competitors, track post-publish rankings/traffic, and treat every refresh as a GEO citation opportunity.
Reference data: references/content-decay-signals.md covers decay signals, lifecycle stages, refresh-vs-rewrite decisions, and content-type strategy.
Save Results
Ask to save results; if yes, write a dated summary to memory/audits/content-refresher/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md. Append veto-level issues to memory/hot-cache.md automatically.
Gate check recommended: Run content-quality-auditor on refreshed content before republishing.
Reference Materials
- Content Decay Signals -- Decay indicators, lifecycle stages, and refresh triggers by content type
- Refresh Templates -- Compact templates for steps 2-9
- Refresh Example & Checklist -- Full worked example and pre/post-refresh checklist
Next Best Skill
Primary: content-quality-auditor -- re-score refreshed content before shipping.