(Entry was posted by Solomon Hohenheim Tesla on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 12/10/2020).

Do you think a structure in a sitemap makes a difference for Google?

Do you think a structure in a sitemap makes a difference for Google? Asking in general and for a site with thousands of pages.

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Adam John Humphreys: It`s a suggestion to google at best. So long as the links are all in there google`s going to go by external signals off-page to determine the validity of those pages.
Solomon Hohenheim Tesla: Adam John Humphreys thanks! Solid answer what about the 10MB (50, 000 entry) limitation? Is that still a thing?
Adam John Humphreys: https://developers.google.com/.../sitemaps/build-sitemap remains but 50MB DEVELOPERS.GOOGLE.COMBuild and submit a sitemap Â |Â Google Search Central Â |Â Google DevelopersBuild and submit a sitemap Â |Â Google Search Central Â |Â Google Developers
Richard Hearne: AdminNo. What mattes is taht the data you present is useful. If you have data in there that`s not useful, e.g. lastmod updates daily without changes to pages, then you can expect to see a response from Googlebot that isn`t favorable.
Michael Icon King: Yes, it does. See here: https://ohgm.co.uk/an-alternative-approach-to-xml-sitemaps/OHGM.CO.UKAn Alternative Approach to XML Sitemaps | ohgmAn Alternative Approach to XML Sitemaps | ohgm
Richard Hearne: AdminRead the fine print: "This particular website is heavy on discontinued products. This makes the older pages more likely to be â€œlower qualityâ€ and far more likely to be identified as soft 404s, whilst the new products being added are in stock."
Michael Icon King: The post is provided as an example. We`ve applied this tactic for multiple sites over the past two years and saw the same result.