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Sitemap checker
A sitemap checker that tests whether your lastmod dates are true
A sitemap can be perfectly formed and still mislead. If every URL's lastmod changes on each deploy, or a rewritten page keeps last year's date, engines learn to ignore the dates altogether. WriteWorks reads your XML sitemap on every crawl, notes when each page's main content really changed, and flags the pages where lastmod, dateModified or an IndexNow notification doesn't match.
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WRITEWORKS
Measure/AI discoverability
Search brands, prompts, competitors…⌘K
New1.2M (62%) leftAsk AI
The challenge
Why a valid sitemap can still mislead
Dates that move every deploy, and updates that never show.
lastmod set to the build time
Many sitemap plugins stamp every URL with the time the site was deployed. Every page looks new every week, so the signal means nothing.
Real updates that never show
A rewritten guide keeps its old lastmod and dateModified, so an engine choosing between sources has no reason to think it is current.
Format checks miss the point
A sitemap validator confirms the XML is well formed. It can't tell you whether the dates inside it match what actually changed on the page.
Changes nobody announced
New pages, rewrites, redirects and removals wait for the next recrawl unless someone tells the search engines that feed AI answers.
The solution
How the sitemap checker works
Read the sitemap, measure real change, compare the dates, announce the changes.
The crawl finds pages from your homepage, your XML sitemap and Search Console. It uses the sitemap set in Knowledge → Sitemaps, or the one your robots.txt points to, follows sitemap index files, and records each URL's lastmod.
Each page's main content is fingerprinted, so the next crawl knows whether it is new, changed, now redirects or was removed. That is the baseline every freshness check is measured against, and it shows in the Pages view as Change since last crawl.
A sitemap lastmod mismatch is flagged when content changed but lastmod is more than 7 days older than the last crawl, or lastmod moved more than 7 days past it with no change. On articles and FAQs, a missing dateModified, one that didn't move when the content did, or an FAQ untouched for over 12 months is flagged too.
Pages that are new, changed, redirected or removed since the last crawl, and weren't submitted to IndexNow, are flagged. Select them and submit, or turn on auto-submit after each crawl once your key is verified.
Success story
What real brands fixed with WriteWorks
What each brand fixed, measured before and after with the same audit, in their own words.
“Turning caching on made our pages 2.5 times faster for crawlers. While we were in there, we fixed the headings too: guides with a clean heading structure went from 32% to 100%.”
S4
Capabilities
Content freshness, checked
The Freshness pillar of AI discoverability.
Sitemap lastmod mismatch
Content changed but lastmod didn't, or lastmod moved with no change.
Missing or stale dateModified
On articles and FAQs, from structured data or meta tags.
Change since last crawl
New, changed, redirected or removed, for every URL.
IndexNow not submitted
Changed URLs that no one told the search engines about.
Freshness columns
dateModified, sitemap lastmod and IndexNow date side by side in the Pages view.
Freshness score per page
Each page's Freshness out of 100, rolled into the 15% pillar.
Time savings
What changes
From trusting the plugin to checking every URL.
TaskBeforeWith WriteWorksTime saved
Check lastmod accuracySpot-check URLs against the CMSEvery URL compared with real changeThe sampling
Find stale article datesOpen pages one by oneMissing or stale dateModified flaggedPer page
Announce changed pagesWait for a recrawlSubmit to IndexNow from the issueDays of lag
Prove the sitemap is fixedTrust the pluginThe issue clears on the next crawlThe guesswork
Included
What's included
Every freshness check in the crawl.
XML sitemap read on every crawl, including sitemap index files
Sitemap from Knowledge → Sitemaps, or the one robots.txt points to
Pages also found from the homepage and Search Console
Main content fingerprinted to detect real changes between crawls
Change since last crawl: new, changed, redirected, removed
Sitemap lastmod mismatch, with 7 days' tolerance either way
Missing or stale dateModified on articles and FAQs
FAQ pages flagged after 12 months without an update
Changed pages not submitted to IndexNow flagged
Submit selected URLs to IndexNow from any issue
Optional IndexNow auto-submit after each crawl
Freshness pillar worth 15% of the AI readiness score
Built for
Who uses it
Anyone whose pages need to look as current as they are.
Technical SEO
A sitemap lastmod check that compares dates with what actually changed.
Developers
A clear brief when lastmod comes from the deploy time instead of the content.
Content teams
See which updated articles still carry an old dateModified.
Publishers
FAQs and guides that need to look current to the engines that quote them.
Featured story
GraftPal
“A near-perfect audit score made it easy to think the job was done. WriteWorks found the one gap that mattered: none of our homepages said who we are in a way a machine could read. We added Organization markup in every market and dated every FAQ page, and key pages carrying the schema AI expects went from 92% to 100%. Small changes, and a much clearer picture of GraftPal for AI.”
GraftPal team
Read the full story0% → 100%
Market homepages with Organization markup
20% → 100%
Articles and FAQs with a modified date
6.7x
Faster median server response to crawlers
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Everything teams typically ask before getting started.
What does the sitemap checker check?+
It checks whether your sitemap's dates are honest. On each crawl WriteWorks reads your XML sitemap and records every URL's lastmod, then compares it with whether the page's main content actually changed since the previous crawl. It also checks dateModified on articles and FAQs, and whether changed pages were sent to IndexNow.
Is it a sitemap validator?+
Not in the XML-format sense. It doesn't validate your sitemap file against the sitemap schema. It reads the sitemap to find your pages, then validates the part that matters for freshness: whether each lastmod matches what really happened to the page.
Why does sitemap lastmod matter for AI search?+
Search engines and the AI tools built on them use lastmod to decide what to recrawl. When it is accurate, a real update gets noticed sooner. When every URL changes on every deploy, or rewritten pages keep old dates, engines stop trusting lastmod for the whole site.
When is a lastmod mismatch flagged?+
In two cases: the page's content changed but its lastmod is more than 7 days older than the last crawl, or its lastmod moved more than 7 days past the last crawl while the content stayed the same. Both need a previous crawl to compare with, so they appear from your second crawl onwards.
What counts as content freshness?+
In WriteWorks, content freshness is the Freshness pillar: accurate dateModified on articles and FAQs, a sitemap lastmod that tracks real changes, and IndexNow notifications for pages that changed. It is worth 15% of the AI readiness score.
How does IndexNow fit in?+
IndexNow lets you tell participating search engines that a URL changed, instead of waiting for a recrawl. The sitemap checker flags changed pages that weren't submitted and lets you submit them in bulk, or turn on auto-submit after each crawl. The IndexNow page explains the protocol and the key file.
Does it find pages missing from my sitemap?+
It doesn't report sitemap coverage gaps as an issue. The crawl finds pages from your sitemap, your homepage and Search Console together, and every URL it finds is listed in the Pages view with its HTTP status and, if it isn't indexable, the reason.
The three freshness checks
What the sitemap checker flags
Sitemap lastmod mismatch
The content changed and lastmod didn't, or lastmod moved and the content didn't. 7 days' tolerance either way.
Missing or stale dateModified
Articles and FAQs with no dateModified, one that didn't move when the content did, or an FAQ untouched for a year.
Changed pages not sent to IndexNow
New, changed, redirected or removed URLs no one announced. Submit them in bulk or turn on auto-submit.
How IndexNow works Explore more
Keep exploring
Related solutions, adjacent use cases, and platform features.
Check whether your sitemap dates are true
lastmod, dateModified and IndexNow checked against real content changes on every crawl, inside the AI discoverability audit.