Google Will Disable The Ping Endpoint In Sitemaps Later This Year
Google is ending support for sitemap ping and the endpoint will stop working by the end of this year. Google has announced that it is announcing a “disabling of the sitemap ping endpoint.” This means that HTTP ping requests will result in a 404 error.
Google said the Web Protocol defines an unauthenticated REST method for submitting sitemaps to search engines. This is a way to “ping” or tell search engines that the sitemap has been updated.
Google said that both “internal research” and “other search engines like Bing” say that these unverified sitemaps are not particularly useful at this time. Google said that most submissions lead to spam.
Google said you can still submit your sitemap through the Google Search Console as well as robots.txt files. Google said that you should also use the lastmod element in your sitemap file if you are sure that the date listed is the actual date the page was modified.
Google added: “If your content management system has changed irrelevant text in the sidebar or footer, you do not need to update the lastmod value for that page. However, if you have changed the main text, added or changed structured data, or updated some links. , update the lastmod value.”
Google does not yet use changefreq or priority elements in sitemaps. Google said: “Any existing code or plugins that use this endpoint won’t cause problems in Google search; you don’t need to make any changes (but using the endpoint doesn’t do anything useful either). Your content may or may not load slower without ping support, but Google doesn’t care.
This is just a note that endpoint support for the ping netmap will be removed later this year. So if you have custom coding or use a content management system that pings Google with these updates, you may decide to remove them later this year. You also want to make sure that the lastmod data is accurate and useful.
The lastmod element
Over time, we have observed varying levels of usefulness associated with the lastmod element on different websites. This could be due to the type of content being published or the content management system being used. However, nowadays, the lastmod element is indeed valuable in many cases, and we utilize it as a signal to schedule crawls for URLs that we have previously discovered.
In order for the lastmod element to be useful, it must first be in a supported date format, which is documented on sitemaps.org. If it is not in the correct format, Search Console will notify you when you submit your sitemap. Second, the lastmod value needs to consistently match the actual modification date of the page. If your page was changed seven years ago but you indicate in the lastmod element that it was modified yesterday, eventually we will lose trust in the accuracy of your last modified dates.
You can include the lastmod element for all the pages in your sitemap, or only for the ones you are confident about. For example, some site software may not be able to easily determine the last modification date of the homepage or a category page because it simply aggregates the content from other pages on the site. In such cases, it is acceptable to omit the lastmod element for those pages.
Furthermore, when we refer to “last modification,” we specifically mean “last significant modification.” If your content management system made an insignificant change to the sidebar or footer, you do not need to update the lastmod value for that page. However, if you have modified the main text, added or changed structured data, or updated links, it is important to update the lastmod value accordingly.
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>
<loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>
Example of a simple sitemap with all the possible elements; source: sitemaps.orgBy examining the sitemap snippet, you may notice that the xmlns attribute uses HTTP instead of HTTPS. This is intentional and serves as a reference for parsers regarding the XML elements. Please refrain from providing additional documentation feedback on this matter.
Changefreq & Priority
Currently, Google does not consider the changefreq or priority elements. Specifically, changefreq overlaps conceptually with lastmod. The priority element is subjective and, based on our internal studies, it generally does not accurately reflect the relative priority of a page compared to others on a site.
Conclusion
The digital marketing services at Amigoways will help you handle these SEO implications that may take place as Google ends the support. Get help from our services and our skilled developers will handle the issues in no time. You can approach the best web development services from us for a clear track of your business. Connect with us at support@amigoways.com or give us a call on +91-99439-04056.
