Bing has up to date its sitemap steering with a renewed deal with the lastmod tag, highlighting its position in AI-powered search to find out which pages must be recrawled.

Whereas real-time instruments like IndexNow supply quicker updates, Bing says correct lastmod values assist maintain content material discoverable, particularly on incessantly up to date or large-scale websites.

Bing Prioritizes lastmod For Recrawling

Bing says the lastmod area in your sitemap is a prime sign for AI-driven indexing. It helps decide whether or not a web page must be recrawled or might be skipped.

To make it work successfully, use ISO 8601 format with each date and time (e.g. 2004-10-01T18:23:17+00:00). That stage of precision helps Bing prioritize crawl exercise primarily based on precise content material modifications.

Keep away from setting lastmod to the time your sitemap was generated, until the web page was really up to date.

Bing additionally confirmed that changefreq and precedence tags are ignored and now not have an effect on crawling or rating.

Submission & Verification Suggestions

Bing recommends submitting your sitemap in one among two methods:

  • Reference it in your robots.txt file
  • Submit it through Bing Webmaster Instruments

As soon as submitted, Bing fetches the sitemap instantly and rechecks it day by day.

You may confirm whether or not it’s working by checking the submission standing, final learn date, and any processing errors in Bing Webmaster Instruments.

Mix With IndexNow For Higher Protection

To extend the possibilities of well timed indexing, Bing suggests combining sitemaps with IndexNow.

Whereas sitemaps give Bing a full image of your website, IndexNow permits real-time URL-level updates—helpful when content material modifications incessantly.

The Bing workforce states:

“By combining sitemaps for complete website protection with IndexNow for quick, URL-level submission, you present the strongest basis for preserving your content material contemporary, discoverable, and visual.”

Sitemaps at Huge Scale

In the event you handle a big web site, Bing’s sitemap capability limits are price your consideration:

  • As much as 50,000 URLs per sitemap
  • 50,000 sitemaps per index file
  • 2.5 billion URLs per index
  • A number of index information help indexing as much as 2.5 trillion URLs

That makes the usual sitemap protocol scalable sufficient even for enterprise-level ecommerce or publishing platforms.

Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan of Microsoft AI, Bing, famous that utilizing these limits to their full extent helps guarantee content material stays discoverable in AI search.

Why This Issues

As search turns into extra AI-driven, correct crawl indicators matter extra.

Bing’s reliance on sitemaps, particularly the lastmod area, exhibits that fundamental technical search engine optimisation practices nonetheless matter, at the same time as AI reshapes how content material is surfaced.

For big websites, Bing’s help for trillions of URLs gives scalability. For everybody else, the message is less complicated: maintain your sitemaps clear, correct, and up to date in real-time. This offers your content material the perfect shot at visibility in AI search.

Featured Picture: PJ McDonnell/Shutterstock


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