Sitemap Submit Frequency

[Alfuzzy]

Was looking at Google Search Console today (sitemap area)...and saw this (screenshot):



Does it make sense that the sitemap was submitted almost a year ago...but last read a day ago? I thought sitemaps were auto-submitted more often than this.

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

That's the most recent time it was read, which was yesterday.

That doesn't mean it hasn't been read numerous times prior to that.

 

[Alfuzzy]

Thanks Brogan. I guess I expected the submit date to change more often (due to subsequent newer sitemaps being submitted). Maybe I don't understand how sitemaps work...but doesn't a sitemap for an internet forum take into account all threads & thread posts on the site as of the date the sitemap is generated & submitted?

If this is the case...wouldn't a sitemap submitted on July, 7th 2020 only contain forum threads & posts as of that date (July 7, 2020)...and nothing after this date? Wouldn't that mean that Google wouldn't be aware of any new forum threads/posts since July 7, 2020...almost 12 months ago?

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

The submit date is the original date it was submitted to Google.

Every time Google reads it, it reads the latest version which contains all recent content.

You can view the sitemap for your own site by navigating to site.com/sitemap.php or site.com/sitemap.xml.

 

[Alfuzzy]

Ok good deal. Sounds like what you're saying is...the "Last Read" date in Google Search Console might be better labeled "Last Submission" or "Last Sitemap Submission". At least this makes more sense to me as a non-expert.

Of course this is a Google Search Console "verbiage issue" (up to them to change it if it's confusing to users). Thanks again.

 

[webbouk]

On the same subject do the search engines frown on sites that have two sitemaps, ie one in the forum root and one in the website root?

 

[Paul B]

I'm no expert but I don't believe it's an issue.

This site does exactly that.

https://xenforo.com/sitemap.xml

https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap.php

 

[webbouk]

Thanks,

I don't recall an issue but the question entered my head reading this thread

 

[djbaxter]

Thanks Brogan. I guess I expected the submit date to change more often (due to subsequent newer sitemaps being submitted). Maybe I don't understand how sitemaps work...but doesn't a sitemap for an internet forum take into account all threads & thread posts on the site as of the date the sitemap is generated & submitted?

If this is the case...wouldn't a sitemap submitted on July, 7th 2020 only contain forum threads & posts as of that date (July 7, 2020)...and nothing after this date? Wouldn't that mean that Google wouldn't be aware of any new forum threads/posts since July 7, 2020...almost 12 months ago?

Thanks

That date for site map submission in Google Search Console reflects the date of a manual sitemap submission, done either by you or a consultant with access to your GSC page.

It does not mean that's the last sitemap Google has or that Googlebot is following links from 2020. In fact, the sitemap refgerenced in GSC is just a URL like https://yoursite.com/sitemap.php or https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. You only need to submit that link to GSC once, unless the URL changes.

Google may periodically follow that link to retrieve the latest updates generated by Xenforo but once they have the sitemap link and the site link and have started crawling your site they will likely rely more on following internal links at the site itself.

 

[Alfuzzy]

Thanks dj for explaining.

I do think the terminology in the GSC for the sitemap area is confusing (not as clear as it could be).

 

[djbaxter]

Thanks dj for explaining.

I do think the terminology in the GSC for the sitemap area is confusing (not as clear as it could be).

True enough. Al lot of Google's terminology is confusing.