Now that Google is encouraging publishers to make use of correct lastmod dates of their sitemap information, what occurs in case your lastmod date is wrong and reveals the incorrect date. Gary Illyes from Google stated both Google trusts your lastmod date or does not, there isn’t a in between.
As a reminder, Google (and Bing) really helpful websites upgrade to WordPress 6.5 so as to get the automated lastmod date in your XML sitemap. Gary additionally added that regardless of Google ignorning the lastmod date beforehand, he added, “surprisingly issues could change given sufficient time,” which means, that is now not the case.
Gary Illyes stated on LinkedIn yesterday that Google “both belief it or not” in the case of the lastmod date.
Mark Williams-Cook dinner requested Gary:
I assume Google is making its personal judgments about how usually to crawl with out xml sitemap. If I’m specifying lastmod and Google’s indicators persistently discover I haven’t made vital modifications, do you could have any sort of popularity system to determine “how a lot” to belief what a web site tells you, or is it simply taken as a weighted sign? Please, Gary, I must know the reply to this for my household Xmas quiz this 12 months. TIA.
Gary Illyes responded:
it is binary, or at the very least was final time I checked. we both belief it or not.
Mark had an attention-grabbing statement primarily based on the Google search API leak:
Perhaps “not new” however I discovered this attention-grabbing:
– Google seems to retailer “final vital replace” time/date in epoch format for URLs
– You may provide lastmod in XML sitemap
– Google has boolean on whether or not to belief you or not primarily based on whether or not you are a naughty liar pic.twitter.com/im6LSykcW0
— Mark Williams-Cook dinner (@thetafferboy) June 11, 2024
Forumd dialogue at LinkedIn.
