It tells to googlebot if a content is going to expire.
More information: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/robots-exclusion-protocol-now-wit...

Comments

mariuss’s picture

mariuss commented

Good suggestion. But the content can be extended, so the expiry time is just tentative.

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

The date in the meta tag should change when the content get renewed

mariuss’s picture

mariuss commented

Yes, but isn't it too late a that point? Google will not check the page anymore and it will exclude it from search results. Is there a way to ping the search bot and tell it to reconsider the value of unvailable_after?

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

I don't think that google check the page anymore, if you delete de meta tag, the googlebot (i think) should index it again, how long it takes? I don't know ;-)

We could set the date for the meta tag 1 or 2 days later (or more) than the Auto Expire one, it gives time to the users to renew it before googlebot remove it.

Sorry for my english, but this kind of subordinated sentences are too complicated to me.

mariuss’s picture

mariuss commented
Assigned: Unassigned » mariuss
Status: Active » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

Fair enough, I'll look into adding this feature.