All or nothing: how Google evaluates the lastmod sitemap signal

In a recent discussion on LinkedIn, Gary Illies, a Google analyst, revealed that the search engine uses a binary approach when evaluating the lastmod signal from sites. Illies encouraged site owners to upgrade to WordPress 6.5, which now supports the lastmod element in the sitemap.

"It's binary: we either trust him or we don't."

The lastmod tag indicates the date a web page was last significantly updated, which helps search engines set priorities for crawling and indexing. Illies' answer suggests that Google either doesn't take into account the site's history or is gradually losing confidence in the reported lastmod values. Google either accepts the lastmod dates in the sitemap as valid or ignores them. 🚀

• 📌 Binary approach to lastmod
• 📌 Lastmod role for indexing
• 📌 The importance of correct implementation of lastmod

This binary approach emphasizes the need to use the lastmod tag correctly and to specify the date only when significant changes are made. Illies praised the WordPress development community for working on version 6.5, which automatically populates the lastmod field without additional configuration.

"It's binary: we either trust him or we don't."