Google: We Mostly Ignore The LastMod Tag In XML Sitemaps

Jul 13, 2015 - 7:58 am 6 by

Google

Gary Illyes has recently been pretty active in the StackOverflow forums and just posted in a Stack Overflow thread that Google, and other search engines, mostly ignore the lastmod tag found within XML Sitemap files.

He said:

The lastmod tag is optional in sitmaps and in most of the cases it's ignored by search engines, because webmasters are doing a horrible job keeping it accurate.

I believe Google's John Mueller was recommending to use the lastmod when going mobile friendly, to expedite the crawl and discovery of your mobile friendly pages. But John Mueller did downplay the use of priority and change frequency tags within the XML Sitemap file.

So probably using the lastmod date, even if you are honest about it, probably will be useless?

Forum discussion at Stack Overflow.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 21, 2025

May 21, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google AI Mode Live In US: Tests Deep Search, Live Search, Personalization, Custom Charts, Shopping & Agentic

May 21, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Expand Again & Lead To 10% Query Growth

May 21, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Updates

Google I/O 2025 Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up

May 21, 2025 - 7:36 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Tests Hidden Links

May 21, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Bug Hides Right Knowledge Panel

May 21, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Maps Send To iPhone Or Android