<b>Sitemap : the one tag Google still trusts</b>
Google ignores and . It does read <code>lastmod</code> — if you don't lie.
What it does well:
— Accurate lastmod helps Google schedule recrawls of genuinely updated URLs
— A clean sitemap is still the cheapest discovery aid for deep/orphan pages
Where sites shoot themselves:
— Templating lastmod = today on every build → Google learns your dates are noise and discounts them all
— Listing noindex/canonicalized/redirected URLs in the sitemap → mixed signals, wasted crawl
— 50k URL / 50MB cap per file ignored, so the index file silently truncates
Pros: free recrawl scheduling lever, best orphan-discovery tool you have.
Cons: trivially abused into worthlessness, no index guarantee.
Best for: large content sites that update real timestamps on real edits.
Not for: faking freshness — Google catches sitewide-identical lastmod fast and stops trusting the field entirely.
Index or Bust
@IndexOrBust
<b>Sitemap : the one tag Google still trusts</b>
Этот пост опубликован в Telegram-канале Index or Bust. Подписаться можно по ссылке: @IndexOrBust.