Does Google use sitemap priority and changefreq values?

Definition: No. As of 17 October 2026, Google's sitemap construction documentation states that Google ignores <priority> and <changefreq> values. These optional XML sitemap fields describe a page's relative importance within a site and its expected frequency of change.

Key facts

• Google's sitemap construction documentation explicitly says it ignores both values.
• The Sitemaps protocol makes both fields optional and says support for optional tags varies among search engines.
• Google's explanation of sitemap elements identifies accurate lastmod values as a signal for scheduling crawls of previously found URLs.

What do priority and changefreq describe?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists page URLs using XML tags. The Sitemaps protocol defines <priority> as a URL's importance relative to other URLs on the same site. Its allowed range is 0.0 to 1.0, with a default of 0.5.

The protocol defines <changefreq> as how often a page is likely to change. Accepted values include daily, weekly and monthly. It describes the field as a hint: even a crawler that considers the field may visit a page more or less frequently than the stated interval.

The following complete sitemap matches the protocol's example, with its optional lastmod field omitted:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Here, monthly describes an expected update interval, and 0.8 expresses relative importance within the site. Google's documented treatment is to ignore both values.

Can these fields be left out for Google?

Yes. The Sitemaps protocol requires the urlset container, a url entry for each address and a loc child containing that address. It makes the other tags optional, so removing priority and changefreq preserves the required structure.

Google's explanation of sitemap elements says the company finds priority heavily subjective and generally inaccurate as a description of relative page importance. Setting every page to 1.0 therefore supplies values Google ignores. The same explanation also identifies conceptual overlap between changefreq and lastmod.

How does Google treat lastmod differently?

The optional <lastmod> field records the page's last modification date. Google's sitemap construction documentation says it uses this value when it is consistently and verifiably accurate. The value should reflect a significant page update, such as a change to main content, structured data or links. A copyright-date change alone is insufficient.

Google's explanation of sitemap elements permits omitting lastmod on pages whose modification dates the site software cannot reliably determine. It gives homepages and category pages that aggregate other pages as examples.

Related terms

• XML sitemap
• When should a sitemap's lastmod value change?
• Does submitting a sitemap ensure indexing?

FAQ

Does setting changefreq to daily make Google crawl daily?

No. Google's sitemap construction documentation says it ignores changefreq, including the daily value.

Is a sitemap invalid without priority and changefreq?

No. The Sitemaps protocol marks both fields as optional. You can omit them while retaining the required XML structure.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Build and submit a sitemap", updated 8 July 2026
2. Sitemaps.org, "Sitemaps XML format", undated
3. Google Search Central, "Sitemaps ping endpoint is going away", 26 June 2023

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