When Your Data Updates
Surva.ai uses a smart refresh system that balances data freshness with API efficiency. Different data types update on different schedules.
AI Visibility Data
Refresh Schedule: Daily to every 3 days
AI visibility data (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini mentions) refreshes based on keyword priority:
- High-priority keywords - Daily updates
- Standard keywords - Every 2-3 days
- Low-activity keywords - Weekly
Priority is determined by search volume, trend velocity, and recent changes.
Google AI Overviews
Refresh Schedule: Daily
AI Overview detection runs daily as part of SERP analysis. We track:
- Whether an AI Overview appears for the keyword
- Which brands are mentioned in the overview
- Citation sources
Organic Rankings
Refresh Schedule: Daily
Search rankings are updated daily for all tracked keywords. Snapshots are stored for historical trending.
Competitor Ads
Refresh Schedule: Weekly
Competitor ad data refreshes weekly. This includes:
- New ad creative detection
- Ad library updates
- Landing page changes
Trend Data
Refresh Schedule: Real-time to daily
Google Trends data updates frequently:
- Trend scores update with each data pull
- Historical trend data is cached daily
- Surging topics recalculate daily
Search Volume & CPC
Refresh Schedule: Monthly
Search volume and CPC data updates monthly, matching the underlying data source.
Landing Page Monitoring
Refresh Schedule: Daily (Growth/Business plans)
Competitor landing pages are crawled daily. Change detection runs on each crawl.
Data Timestamps
Throughout Surva.ai, you'll see timestamps indicating when data was last updated:
- Topic detail pages - Show last refresh time
- Competitor cards - Show last activity detected
- AI visibility cards - Show snapshot date
Manual Refresh
In most cases, you don't need to manually refresh data. However, some areas support manual refresh:
- Topic detail page - "Refresh" button triggers immediate update
- Competitor detail - Refresh competitor data on demand
Manual refreshes count against your plan's API limits.
Historical Data Retention
Surva.ai retains historical data for trending and analysis:
- AI visibility snapshots - 12 months
- Ranking history - 12 months
- Ad creative archive - Indefinite
- Landing page snapshots - 90 days
Why Not Real-Time?
Some users ask why we don't update everything in real-time. The reasons:
- API costs - Real-time updates for all keywords would be prohibitively expensive
- Rate limits - AI platforms have query limits
- Data stability - AI responses can vary; sampling reduces noise
- Meaningful changes - Daily is sufficient to catch significant shifts