Matt Cutts today explained the importance of keeping your older age website fresh and how it is related with your search engine ranking. So if you have not updated your website from years, it’s time to think and redesign it with new look, make it fast, visually appealing with responsive design for mobiles, tablets and having fresh contents.

It certainly confirms that user engagement metrics are a ranking factor however it does not directly relate, but somewhere it is associated with rankings. It may be that Google measure various metrics like bounce rate etc to determine if the website is really useful for visitors.

So having older website does not mean that it will remain stable in search engine rankings, new websites with new designs, layouts can rank well. Old websites may have more back links, authority of domain and trust in Google eyes, but if you want that to be stable and keep your rankings over time, you may need to rethink and update your website as needed.

Keeping your website updated with new technology does not only provide better user experience but also converts more as compared to old designs.

So if you have old website with old layout and design, it is time to redesign it.