Sitemap integrity · Updated October 23, 2026
ShadowX sitemap lastmod evidence policy
Tie ShadowX sitemap lastmod dates to substantive content changes instead of automated checks. This guide treats ShadowX and ShadowX Market search terms as research labels, not as proof that a destination is official or safe.
Define a substantive change
A corrected source, changed status explanation, new article section or revised public link state can justify a new lastmod date.
Build timestamps, monitoring pings and whitespace changes do not change the page meaning.
Use one date across signals
The visible review date, Article dateModified and sitemap lastmod should describe the same editorial event where applicable.
Contradictory dates make freshness harder for users and crawlers to interpret.
Keep the sitemap canonical-only
Include the homepage, guide index, articles and policy pages only at their final canonical URLs. Exclude admin, 404, redirect and parameter variants.
Every listed URL should return a successful indexable response.
Audit after generation
Compare the sitemap inventory with generated pages and internal links. Fail the release when a canonical page is missing or an obsolete path remains.
Send changed URLs to Bing after the corrected sitemap is publicly reachable.
Frequently asked questions
Can an automated availability check update lastmod?
Not unless it causes a substantive public content change.
Should redirects appear in a sitemap?
No. Use the final canonical destination.