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Freshness signals

Freshness signals

In short: Add a “Last updated: YYYY-MM-DD” line near the top of the file and change it whenever the content does.

  • Category: Curation Quality · weight 8 of 100 within the category
  • Curation Quality is worth 25 in generic and commerce, 20 in regulated and technical (points of 100, by scoring profile)
  • Audit ID C7 (as shown on reports) · rubric v2.1

What it checks

Whether the file carries dates that agree with your sitemap and show current content.

Why it matters

Agents need to know whether the facts they’re about to quote are current. Dates let them judge, and caveat, time-sensitive answers.

When it applies

Applies when the file looks time-sensitive: it has more than 50 links, documents an API (wording such as “endpoint”, “OpenAPI”, “API reference”, GET / or POST /), or uses data-freshness wording. Otherwise it is Not applicable.

An audit that doesn't apply, or that we couldn't verify, is removed from your score and its weight shared among the Curation Quality audits that do apply. It is never scored as a zero.

How it's scored

1.0 with a version or date stamp: the text “Last updated:”, or an HTML comment starting with version, last updated or last-updated · 0.6 without a stamp but with data-freshness wording (see Data-freshness tiers) · 0.2 otherwise.

How to fix

  1. Add a “Last updated” date near the top of the file and keep it current.
  2. Date time-sensitive sections (pricing, schedules, offers).
  3. Keep sitemap lastmod values in step with real edits (see E2).

Example

# Acme Payments

> Card and bank payment APIs. Last updated: 2026-09-01.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a freshness signal in llms.txt?
A version or date stamp: an HTML comment that starts with version, last updated or last-updated (for example <!-- version: 1.0.0 --> at the top of the file), or the text Last updated: anywhere, as in > Card and bank payment APIs. Last updated: 2026-09-01. A stamp scores 1.0. Without one, a file that describes data-freshness tiers or volatility scores 0.6, and anything else 0.2.

Sources: LLMSRank — Freshness signals audit

Why wasn’t the date in my llms.txt detected?
The match is literal (case aside): outside an HTML comment it needs Last updated: with the space and the colon, so “Updated 2026-09-01”, “Last-Updated: …” or “Version 3” in plain text aren’t read as a stamp. Use Last updated: 2026-09-01 in the text, or a <!-- version … --> or <!-- last-updated … --> comment.

Sources: LLMSRank — Freshness signals audit

When does Freshness signals apply to my file?
When the file looks time-sensitive: in practice, when it has more than 50 links, documents an API (mentions such as “endpoint”, “OpenAPI”, “API reference”, GET / or POST /), or talks about data freshness or volatility. Otherwise it is Not applicable and its weight goes to the other Curation audits.

Sources: LLMSRank — Freshness signals audit · LLMSRank — Method

Should the date in llms.txt match my sitemap lastmod values?
It should agree with them. Today the check looks for the stamp but doesn’t yet compare its date with your sitemap or judge its age, so the honesty is up to you: change the date when the content it describes changes, not on every deploy. Write it as a W3C Datetime (2026-09-01) like sitemap lastmod, and see Sitemap freshness for how a single build timestamp across a sitemap is treated.

Sources: LLMSRank — Freshness signals audit · LLMSRank — Sitemap freshness audit · sitemaps.org — Sitemaps XML format

How many llms.txt files carry a freshness signal?
Very few. In our research, the check applied to 114 of the 187 sites in our corpus (captured 2026-10-10, scored with rubric v2.1), and only 8 (7.0%) earned full marks, the lowest full-marks rate in the Curation category; the mean was 0.302. qdrant.tech, intel.com, wordpress.com, opendoor.com and compass.com carry a stamp; compass.com opens its file with <!-- version: 1.0.0 -->.

Sources: LLMSRank — Method · LLMSRank — Freshness signals audit