Outdated Website Content? ChatGPT is Going to Share it

The age of mainstream AI usage is here.

With ChatGPT releasing their Atlas browser and stat tracking services like Matomo now counting referrals from AI platforms, these tools are no longer just for students who don’t want to write their own essays or people who think they can be in a relationship with their AI.

It’s now about discoverability, and that has a huge impact on the information published on your website.

Here’s what you need to know.

If It’s On Your Website, ChatGPT Will Find It

AI tools are great for discoverability because, thanks to being conversational, the interaction is natural.

• “Which organization should I donate to in order to help kids with rare diseases?”
• “What’s the best software for managing my nonprofit’s donor base?”
• “How is the money donated to that organization actually spent?”

You ask a question, and you get an answer.

But all of the answers are coming from somewhere. It’s all information gathered from the Internet, and your organization’s website is included in that knowledge base.

ChatGPT will do a deep dive of your website as it works to produce the best possible answer, which makes it crucial to ensure that the content on your website is current and accurate. These AI tools don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong, so if the information on your site is outdated, it’s still going to be shared as authoritative.

How to Find Outdated and Incorrect Content on Your Website

So how do you know if AI tools are pulling incorrect information from your site?

First, start by asking these questions about your organization’s website. They’re relatively basic, but will get you started.

Once you have a general idea about how accurate the responses generated by ChatGPT actually are, dig deeper into specifics about your organization. Ask about:

• Programs and events your organization offers and runs (or previously ran)
• Time-sensitive content related to industry or world happenings
• Resources and evergreen content about your organization’s mission and expertise

Even if users aren’t specifically asking ChatGPT for detailed information about your organization, they’ll likely be prompted with follow-up questions that could lead them there.

Beyond using AI tools, the best possible way to review what content on your website is outdated is to do a full content audit. This requires time, patience, and expertise, so while it’s not a quick solution, it is certainly the most effective.

Adding Context Helps Users … and AI

As you create content on your website, make the distinction between timely, date-based content and evergreen content.

Evergreen content is unlikely to change over time, meaning that it can provide value to users days, months, and even years after it’s created. Think “How to” articles, timeless stories, and “About Us” pages.

Date-based content is often relevant for a specific time period; examples include news or press releases, events, or blog posts weighing in on current issues.

All of your date-based content should have a visible published date, so it’s obvious when the content was created. Both real people and AI tools will use this to better understand how relevant and accurate it is to the moment when they discover it.

While your evergreen content doesn’t always need a published date, there is value in adding an “updated date” if and when the content is updated. Search engines track “freshness” as a relevant factor in their algorithms, and updated content is fresher (Just don’t add both published and updated dates).

Do This: Generate FAQs and Test Them

The best way to find when AI tools will present your organization’s outdated content is to test, test, and test some more.

Come up with a list of frequently asked questions that a community member or potential community member could ask about your organization. Do it from their perspective – remember, you are not your users – and start talking to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok.

Ask the questions real people will ask. Use the follow-up prompts to see where the AI will take you. And note every instance where they’re presenting information or linking to something on your organization’s website that isn’t right or is outdated.

When you find outdated content, either update it with correct, more current information – or delete it from your site and set up a 301 redirect.

The old content on your site used to be buried and hard to find. That’s no longer the case, thanks to ChatGPT and other AI tools, so it’s more important than ever to make sure the information you’re publishing is accurate.

Have questions or need help? Reach out and let’s chat.