Google has announced that it will be removing support for the sitemap protocol by the end of this year. Read on to discover if this is something you should be concerned about for your website.
Google recommends that you make sure that the lastmod date for any content, which tells search engines when the content was last modified, is kept accurate, as this is what Google will be using to work out if content has been updated.
What is sitemap ping?
Sitemap pinging is the method used to notify search engines that the sitemap on a website has been updated.
Most SEO plugins should already have the lastmod details in the sitemap, so you shouldn’t need to worry about this. If the plugin you currently use doesn’t have this, then the plugin developers should be updating this. Therefore, it’s important to keep your website plugins up to date so that you have the latest functionality.
You also need to make sure that your sitemap is submitted within Google Search Console. If you want to double check this, Google can pick your sitemap up also add your sitemap to your robots.txt file.
One thing to note is that you need to make sure that you’re not manipulating the lastmod details in your sitemap. Otherwise, Google can ignore this and just crawl the page when it feels like it. Google has also confirmed that the lastmod details should only be updated if the main content has been updated on the page. If you’ve changed the sidebar, header or footer of your website, this shouldn’t change the lastmod details.
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