Change Frequency, Last Change and Priority Values in Sitemaps

Understanding XML Change Frequency, Last Change and Priority Values in Sitemaps

What They Mean and How to Use Them Effectively

When you’re optimizing a website for search engines, technical SEO elements often make the difference between good and great visibility. One such behind-the-scenes element is the XML sitemap, a file that helps search engines discover and index your site’s pages more efficiently.

Within a sitemap, two optional but historically significant attributes often raise questions:

• changefreq (Change Frequency)
  
• priority (Priority Value)
  
  

In this article, we’ll dive deep into what these two values mean, why they exist, how they’re actually used (or not used) by modern search engines, and how you can decide whether to include them in your own sitemap.

What Is an XML Sitemap?

Before we dive into specifics, let’s clarify what an XML sitemap is.

An XML sitemap is a structured file (written in XML format) that lists URLs of a website, along with metadata about each page — such as when it was last updated, how frequently it changes, and how important it is relative to other pages on the same site.

A simple sitemap entry looks like this:

1<url>  
2 <loc>https://www.example.com/blog/seo-basics</loc>  
3  <lastmod>2025-11-03</lastmod>  
4  <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>  
5  <priority>0.8</priority>
6</url>

Now let’s break down the three attributes that many developers are unsure about: changefreq, priority and lastmod.

‍

1. XML Change Frequency (<changefreq>)

What It Means

The changefreq tag provides a hint to search engines about how often a particular page is likely to change. Its purpose is to help crawlers schedule how frequently they should revisit that page for updates.

Common valid values for changefreq include:

• always
  
• hourly
  
• daily
  
• weekly
  
• monthly
  
• yearly
  
• never
  

Example

1<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>

This suggests that the content on that page is updated about once a week.

Why It Exists

When XML sitemaps were first introduced by Google, Yahoo, and MSN (back in 2005), the changefreq attribute was designed to reduce unnecessary crawling and improve efficiency. Instead of re-scanning every page all the time, crawlers could prioritize pages based on expected update frequency.

For example:

• A news site might tag its articles as hourly or daily.
  
• A corporate homepage might be weekly or monthly.
  
• A privacy policy page could be yearly or even never.
  

How Search Engines Use It Today

Here’s the critical truth:
Google and other modern search engines largely ignore the changefreq value.

Crawlers now rely on far more sophisticated signals to determine crawl frequency, such as:

• The lastmod (last modified) timestamp
  
• Page popularity and backlinks
  
• Historical change data
  
• Server responses (e.g., 304 Not Modified)
  
• Internal linking and crawl budgets
  

In Google’s own documentation, they state that changefreq “is only a hint” - not a directive.
In other words, it doesn’t guarantee any particular crawl behavior.

Should You Still Use changefreq?

Yes, but sparingly.
Including it won’t hurt your SEO, and for smaller or less dynamic websites, it can still provide useful guidance to other crawlers (for instance, alternative search engines, specialized bots, or internal enterprise systems).
However, it’s more effective to maintain accurate lastmod dates, since Google actively uses those to decide when to re-crawl pages.

Best Practice Tip:
If you include changefreq, make sure it aligns with actual update patterns. Misleading values can make your sitemap seem unreliable.

‍

2. XML Priority Values (<priority>)

What It Means

The priority tag is used to indicate the relative importance of a page compared to other pages on the same website.
It ranges from 0.0 (least important) to 1.0 (most important).
The default value, if omitted, is 0.5.

Example

1<priority>0.8</priority>

This tells search engines that the page is relatively important within your site’s hierarchy.

Why It Exists

When sitemaps were first introduced, the idea was that webmasters could signal which pages deserved more frequent crawling or indexing attention. For example:

• Home page → 1.0
  
• Category page → 0.8
  
• Individual blog posts → 0.6
  
• Terms & conditions → 0.2
  

This allowed search engines to distribute crawl resources more intelligently.

How Search Engines Use It Today

Much like changefreq, priority is treated as a hint, not a command.
Google’s crawlers typically ignore this value, relying instead on internal linking structure, page authority, and overall content quality to determine importance.
However, other platforms (e.g., Bing or internal enterprise search systems) may still take it into consideration to some extent.

Should You Still Use priority?

It doesn’t hurt to include it, especially if:

• You have a structured sitemap generation process.
  
• You want to express logical hierarchies (e.g., home > category > post).
  

But don’t expect it to have a measurable SEO impact.

If you do include it, make sure your priorities make logical sense:

• 1.0: Homepage or mission-critical landing pages
  
• 0.8: Category or product pages
  
• 0.5: Blog articles or news posts
  
• 0.3: Legal or archive pages
  

Example snippet:

1<url>  
2 <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>  
3  <priority>1.0</priority>
4</url>
5<url>  
6 <loc>https://www.example.com/blog/</loc>  
7  <priority>0.8</priority>
8</url>
9<url>  
10 <loc>https://www.example.com/blog/old-post</loc>  
11  <priority>0.4</priority>
12</url>

Real-World Usage and SEO Recommendations

What Really Matters Most

Search engines now rely primarily on:

• Accurate <lastmod> values
  
• High-quality, crawlable internal linking
  
• Updated, fresh content
  
• XML sitemap accessibility and accuracy
  

While changefreq and priority may not directly influence crawling today, they can still be useful as organizational metadata for your own sitemap management.

When to Include Them

✅ Recommended:

• On smaller websites where sitemap metadata is manually maintained.
  
• When your CMS or generator automatically includes consistent values.
  
• If you use the sitemap internally for custom crawlers, APIs, or analytics.
  

🚫 Not Necessary:

• On very large or frequently changing websites.
  
• If your CMS already maintains accurate lastmod timestamps.
  
• When you’re managing multiple sitemaps and want to minimize bloat.

‍

3. XML Last Modified (<lastmod>)

What It Means

The <lastmod> tag indicates the date when a page was last modified or updated.
This value helps search engines understand how fresh your content is and whether it might need to be re-crawled and re-indexed.

The date must follow the ISO 8601 format, such as:

• YYYY-MM-DD — e.g., 2025-11-04
  
• Or with timestamp and time zone — e.g., 2025-11-04T08:30:00+00:00
  

Example

1<lastmod>2025-11-04</lastmod>

This tells crawlers that the page content was last changed on November 4, 2025.

Why It Exists

The <lastmod> attribute was introduced to provide a precise signal of content freshness.
Unlike changefreq (which is an estimate), <lastmod> gives a factual timestamp that allows crawlers to decide whether a page’s content has changed since their last visit.

This helps both:

• Search engines, which can prioritize recrawling updated pages.
  
• Website owners, by reducing unnecessary crawl load and ensuring new content gets discovered faster.
  

How Search Engines Use It Today

Of all the sitemap attributes, <lastmod> is the most important and actively used by modern search engines, including Google and Bing.

Here’s how they typically use it:

1. Crawl Scheduling:
   When the crawler sees a new or more recent <lastmod> date, it may re-fetch that URL to index the updated content.
   
2. Index Freshness:
   For time-sensitive content (like blogs, news, or eCommerce products), an updated <lastmod> can help ensure search results show the latest version.
   
3. Duplicate Detection:
   Search engines may use it to detect whether different URLs actually contain identical or updated content versions.
   

That said, accuracy is critical. If the <lastmod> date changes every time a page is generated (even when the content hasn’t changed), it can cause Google to waste crawl budget by repeatedly fetching unchanged pages.

Should You Use <lastmod>?

Absolutely - yes.
The <lastmod> value is the only sitemap attribute that modern search engines actively rely on and benefit from.

However, it’s important to follow best practices:

• ✅ Keep it accurate — only update the date when the page’s visible content or significant metadata changes.
  
• ❌ Don’t automate it blindly — dynamic timestamps (e.g., changing on every page load) reduce trust in your sitemap.
  
• ✅ Use consistent formatting (ISO 8601).
  
• ✅ Include timezone for precise timestamps on frequently updated content, such as news or product feeds.
  

Real-World Examples

Let’s look at a few cases of how <lastmod> should be used in practice:

Example 1: Blog Post

A blog article updated with new images or text should reflect that change:

1<url>  
2 <loc>https://www.example.com/blog/seo-basics</loc>  
3  <lastmod>2025-11-04</lastmod>
4</url>

Example 2: Product Page

An eCommerce product page updated with a new price or stock status:

1<url>  
2 <loc>https://www.example.com/products/widget-x100</loc>  
3  <lastmod>2025-10-30T14:25:00+00:00</lastmod>
4</url>

Example 3: Static Page

A legal or “About” page that rarely changes:

1<url>  
2 <loc>https://www.example.com/privacy-policy</loc>  
3  <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
4</url>

Why It’s More Reliable Than changefreq or priority

Unlike the other two optional tags, <lastmod> provides concrete data, not subjective hints.
It’s a timestamp search engines can trust and verify - and that’s exactly why Google recommends it as part of every sitemap.

In fact, Google Search Console will sometimes flag missing or inconsistent <lastmod> values when analyzing sitemap performance.

Key takeaway:
If you only include one extra tag beyond <loc>, make it <lastmod>.

Best Practices Summary

✅ Do:

• Use the ISO 8601 date format (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD)
  
• Update <lastmod> only when the content meaningfully changes
  
• Ensure your sitemap generator uses real modification timestamps
  

❌ Don’t:

• Update <lastmod> for trivial changes like ad rotations or analytics scripts
  
• Use current date/time for every page load
  
• Omit <lastmod> entirely — it’s valuable even for static pages
  

Example of a Sitemap with <lastmod> Used Correctly

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">   
3 <url>    
4  <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>    
5   <lastmod>2025-11-01</lastmod>  
6 </url>‍  
7 <url>    
8  <loc>https://www.example.com/blog/</loc>    
9   <lastmod>2025-10-30</lastmod>  
10 </url>‍  
11 <url>    
12  <loc>https://www.example.com/contact/</loc>    
13   <lastmod>2024-12-15</lastmod>  
14 </url>‍
15</urlset>

Final Thoughts on <lastmod>

While changefreq and priority have become largely symbolic in modern SEO, <lastmod> remains a practical and reliable signal for both search engines and website owners.

It helps:

• Improve crawl efficiency
  
• Keep your indexed content up to date
  
• Reinforce content freshness and authority
  

In short:

Always include <lastmod> in your sitemap - and keep it honest.

Example of a Well-Structured Sitemap

Here’s what a modern sitemap might look like, balancing completeness with practicality:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">    
 <url>    
  <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>    
   <lastmod>2025-10-25</lastmod>    
   <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>    
   <priority>1.0</priority>  
 </url>‍  
 <url>    
  <loc>https://www.example.com/products/</loc>    
   <lastmod>2025-11-01</lastmod>    
   <changefreq>daily</changefreq>    
   <priority>0.8</priority>  
 </url>‍  
 <url>    
  <loc>https://www.example.com/privacy-policy/</loc>    
   <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>    
   <changefreq>yearly</changefreq>    
   <priority>0.2</priority>  
 </url>‍
</urlset>

Final Thoughts

The changefreq and priority attributes in XML sitemaps are relics from an earlier era of search. They were created with good intentions — to help crawlers allocate resources efficiently — but have since been overshadowed by more accurate, data-driven crawling signals.

Still, when used thoughtfully, these attributes can:

• Make your sitemaps more descriptive.
  
• Help non-Google crawlers or internal systems.
  
• Reflect a well-organized and intentional site structure.
  

For most modern SEO strategies, however, the focus should be on keeping lastmod accurate and ensuring your sitemap truly represents the live structure of your site.

Quick Summary

Bottom Line:
If you’re maintaining a clean, accurate sitemap, it’s perfectly fine to include changefreq and priority — just don’t expect them to influence your rankings or crawl rates directly. Use them as informative metadata, not magic SEO levers.