There is no doubt that search engines prefer websites with fresh content. They see old content as outdated and consider new or fresh content to be better. They reward websites with new content and penalize websites with old content. It is just that straight forward.

One of the most effective and efficient ways you can keep content current is to let your users produce content for you. By using testimonials, website or product reviews, surveys, and forums, you will have new content, create credibility, and get priceless feedback from your customers.

Another good way to keep content fresh is to use free content aggregation systems like RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

You can subscribe to a variety of different content sources including relevant news and blog feeds and have that information automatically upload to your website. Feeds can be chosen that directly relate to the theme of your website.

I would not recommend having RSS feeds as your only source of fresh content because they duplicate content. You may run the risk of being penalized by the search engines so you will want to balance this potential duplicate content problem by keeping your unique content fresh daily or weekly.

There are lots of choices when it comes to free content aggregation systems. Check out Google Blog Alerts and Yahoo News for starters. If your website is not too technical and broad in theme then using RSS feeds provide an efficient way to keep content current.