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Posts Sitemap data

The import of the sitemap should be done manually. It may change in the future, but for now it is better to do it yourself as it will allow you to detect any anomaly on the website.

The approach is as follows:

  • Access the website URL /robots.txt - Usually the sitemap address is specified.
  • Then go to that URL
  • You will probably see several Sitemaps. Select the sitemap for posts and download it.

The import algorithm

The import algorithm tries to guess if this is a post modification or a creation, based on the URL of the attached images (if any).

Let’s take an example. Here is an entry of a usual Wordpress sitemap:

<url>
    <loc>https://test.com/test-url</loc>
    <lastmod>2022-02-15T16:36:43+00:00</lastmod>
    <image:image>
        <image:loc>https://test.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/test.jpg</image:loc>
        <image:title><![CDATA[The title of the image]]></image:title>
        <image:caption><![CDATA[The caption of the image]]></image:caption>
    </image:image>
</url>

In the example below, the algorithm will infer that:

  • The post has been created on July 2020. This information is based on the folder where the image is stored.
  • The post has been then modified on February 2022.

Of course, it might be inexact. For instance, the owner may have created this post on February 2022, and sets an image already uploaded two years ago. But according to our experience, this first scenario is the most common.

Why it is so important to differentiate modifications from post creations?

When you are buying a website, it is extremely important to know if the posts have been updated over the time. Detecting posts modifications is paramount as you will be able to spot these potential red flags:

  • All posts has been updated in the last weeks to prepare the selling process. The risk here is that these changes have not yet been digested by Google Search, so it might impact your ranking in the near future.

  • There are long-period ranges where no posts have been updated. This can underline a lack of commitment of the seller at some moments.

  • More generally, differentiating the creation from the modification will give you an interesting insight about how the website has been managed, despite potential false negative.