Sitemap Plugin Update Required

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haZh
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Jay wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:18 pmI still don't understand what is your purpose of adding this "+05:30" string at the end of date, as it makes date value in <lastmod> tag invalid.
I use +05:30 as my timezone. According to this Stack Overflow answer, including a timezone is possible;
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/313 ... l-sitemaps
dbelov wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:24 am lastmod is also optional tag and Google says they ignore it.
In Google sitemap XML format, they have included the lastmod tags;
https://support.google.com/webmasters/a ... 3668?hl=en
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haZh
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Jay wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:18 pmI still don't understand what is your purpose of adding this "+05:30" string at the end of date, as it makes date value in <lastmod> tag invalid.
You were right. Google crawled my site and gave me these errors for the following lastmod format;

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<lastmod>2019-08-10 10:22:26 +05:30</lastmod>
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Now I have removed the timezone and kept the date with time, now it's like this;

Code: Select all

<lastmod>2019-08-10 10:22:26</lastmod>
According to sitemaps.org official documentation, it still says that lastmod should be in W3C format. W3C formats can be expanded as far as the timezone. It's confusing to look at these official documentations, maybe they forgot to update it? It lacks the information required for someone who's looking to include a timezone.

However, this confirms that Google search engine neglects timezone when it comes to sitemap > lastmod tags.
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Jay
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haZh wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:08 am However, this confirms that Google search engine neglects timezone when it comes to sitemap > lastmod tags.
While you use g.search console you should already know, that google's automated systems determines dates using a variety of factors.
If you want to let it clearly know, use structured data schemas for dates in your posts with the correct time zone designator.
You can always set the g.bot to crawl your site more frequently, but I won't get into the reasons of doing it.
dbelov wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:24 am lastmod is also optional tag and Google they ignore it.
Fortunately google isn't the only one, and also not no.1 in all countries ;)
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haZh
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Jay wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 2:43 pmIf you want to let it clearly know, use structured data schemas for dates in your posts with the correct time zone designator.
You can always set the g.bot to crawl your site more frequently, but I won't get into the reasons of doing it.
Already in and now sitemap, meta and structured data all echo out the same relevant site, post modification dates and expanded as far as timezone where possible. Currently in the process of fixing the structured data warnings. ;)
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