Over the years, Google has recommended that website developers use certain tags for Sitemap Extension on websites, especially image and video tags. Most of these tags help website owners send more information to Google Search algorithms. Think of a website as a book, and an XML Sitemap is like a table of contents that tells you what’s on each page.
Recently, Google announced that it will stop using several image and video sitemap tags. The discontinued tags will have no immediate impact on index creation or any systems within Google Search. For website developers who are just starting to update their websites now, they may need to prepare for this change from Google again. So, how will this change from Google affect developers themselves? Let’s explore the answers together.
Google Discontinues Image and Video Tags in Sitemap Extension
In fact, Google didn’t provide much explanation for discontinuing certain image and video tags on the Sitemap Extension, only stating that there was an evaluation and decision to permanently discontinue those tags. A statement from Google reads, “After evaluating the performance of certain tags on the Sitemap Extension, we decided to officially discontinue some of those tags.”
In the Google Search Central podcast, Gary Illyes, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, interestingly commented on the discontinuation of tags on Sitemaps, saying, “If you’re developing a website and currently using these plugins, you don’t need to take any immediate action. You can leave these tags in place because, in the future, Google Search Console will display warnings in the image and video extensions in the next version of Schema. Then you can decide to remove those tags later.”
What Tags Have Been Discontinued?
For image tags on Sitemaps that have been discontinued, they include:
For video tags on Sitemaps that have been discontinued, they include:
- <video:category>
- <video:gallery_loc>
- autoplay and allow_embed of <video:player_loc>
- <video:price>
- <video:tvshow>
When Will Google Discontinue These Tags?
Google has set August 6, 2022, as the date when these tags will be officially discontinued, so there is still time for website developers to start removing the discontinued tags. Of course, there will be no penalties or negative results if users continue to use these tags. In addition, in the future, those using Google Search Console may receive notifications from the system.
Technically, Google’s decision in this case seems to be aimed at reducing complexity and redundancy in the process of improving websites, making it faster and more convenient. For those who are just starting to update their websites, prepare for this change from Google to avoid problems that may be difficult to solve later.
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