Newest parseable sitemap lastmod is over 365 days old
The newest parseable lastmod value in ShipReady's selected sitemap was more than 365 days old.
Why it matters
A dated sitemap can be useful to review when all of its parseable lastmod values are old. The dates are publisher-provided metadata, so their age alone does not show whether the underlying pages changed or how a crawler schedules work.
How ShipReady detects it
What it inspects
ShipReady selects and retrieves one sitemap using the supported robots declaration or /sitemap.xml fallback, then reads parseable lastmod values from its accepted root entries.
What triggers a finding
The rule triggers when at least one lastmod is parseable and the newest parsed value is more than 365 days old. Date-only values are treated as UTC; invalid or absent values are ignored.
What the evidence shows
Every parseable lastmod value ShipReady considered in the selected sitemap was older than 365 days, with the newest reported as evidence.
Limits of this check
Lastmod is optional, so a sitemap with no parseable dates is not called stale. ShipReady does not fetch nested sitemaps, verify that lastmod values match page changes, inspect all sitemap paths, or establish crawl frequency, index freshness, or search performance.
How to fix it
Review how lastmod values are produced
Confirm whether the selected sitemap's lastmod values intentionally reflect changes to the listed URLs and update the generator only where that metadata is intended.
Inspect the deployed sitemap
Request the selected sitemap after deployment and inspect representative lastmod values alongside the actual route update process.
How to verify the change
Verify published lastmod metadata
Inspect the selected sitemap and its newest relevant parseable lastmod value after the intended update.
Expected: The sitemap's published lastmod values reflect the deployment's intended metadata policy.