Google's Illyes Unsure On Shifting unavailable_after Dates
Google's Gary Illyes addressed concerns regarding the use of the 'unavailable_after' meta tag for frequently renewed classified listings. He suggested that while updating the date is technically acceptable, Googlebot will need to re-crawl the page to recognize the change.
Why it matters
This clarification helps SEO professionals manage crawl budgets and indexation for sites with high-turnover content.
Google's Gary Illyes said he would need to check whether pushing an unavailable_after date forward on every renewal causes problems. He gave a first read.
SEJ STAFF Matt G. Southern 8 hours ago ⋅ 3 min read SEJ STAFF Matt G. Southern Senior News Writer at Search Engine Journal Bio Follow 64 READS Google's Gary Illyes said on LinkedIn that he'd have to check whether a site can safely extend an unavailable_after date. His first read, which he called a gut feeling, was that pushing the date forward is fine, but he left open whether the tag can be trusted for pages that expire and then get renewed.
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