Google Sitemaps Docs Updated: Lastmod Date Should Be Last Significant Update

Jun 25, 2024 - 7:21 am 2 by

Google Stamps Paper

Google has made a small note to the sitemap documentation to add that the lastmod date specified in the sitemap file "should reflect the date and time of the last significant update to the page." This change was made after I covered the topic of Google trusting or not trusting that lastmod field in your sitemap file.

Gagan Ghotra spotted this update and posted on X about it. He said, "Google added a note about lastmode in Search Central document about sitemaps." He is right.

When you compare the old version to the current version - you can see this document was updated on June 21, 2024.

Google added this section:

The lastmod value should reflect the date and time of the last significant update to the page. For example, an update to the main content, the structured data, or links on the page is generally considered significant, however an update to the copyright date is not.

Here is a screenshot:

Lastmod Sitemap Google Docs Add

Google also made one small additional tweak to the text sitemap section, just to clarify it. Here is what was added in blue:

Google Text Sitemap Doc Change

Forum discussion at X.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 28, 2025

Aug 28, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Some Sites Have Huge Crawl Rate Declines In Google Search Console

Aug 28, 2025 - 9:30 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Bug: Google Search Console Performance Report Search Appearance Android App

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Ads

Microsoft Testing Tests Larger Titles For Ads In Bing Search

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Gets Audience Exclusions For Shopping Campaigns

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Bolding Site Name On Hover

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google Automated Local Services Ads Lead Credits Coming