According to an Ahrefs report, Google AI Overviews more often include references to older content than other AI systems and in many cases, even older content than Google's organic results.

The report shows that LLM preference for newer content is a myth, and discusses how sites which are years old and which have acquired some authority can still be presented in an AI overview even if they haven't been published in the past few years.

Google's AI Overviews still reference a lot of the older, authoritative articles identified by Ahrefs, indicating that trust, relevance and consistent, quality content.

Content should be written to answer user needs and be accurate and evergreen rather than created with the primary focus of earning AI Overviews.

While updating and adding information is fine, overhauling previously successful content can harm your historically built authority signals.