Free XML Sitemap Generator
Create a valid XML sitemap in seconds. Add URLs individually with per-page settings or paste them in bulk — configure lastmod dates, change frequency, and priority, then copy or download the file ready for your website.
Valid XML
Outputs correctly formatted sitemap XML every time
Live Preview
See the XML sitemap update in real time as you add URLs
Copy & Download
Copy to clipboard or download sitemap.xml directly
URL Validation
Automatically validates URLs and flags any errors
Input Mode
sitemap.xml Preview(0 URLs)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> </urlset>
How to Use Your XML Sitemap
- Add your page URLs using the form above — either individually with per-URL settings, or paste them in bulk.
- Click “Copy to Clipboard” or “Download” to get the generated XML sitemap.
- Upload the
sitemap.xmlfile to the root of your website (e.g.https://example.com/sitemap.xml). - Submit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console and reference it in your
robots.txtfile.
Why XML Sitemaps Matter for SEO
An XML sitemap is one of the most important technical SEO files on your website. It acts as a roadmap for search engine crawlers, ensuring every important page gets discovered, crawled, and indexed.
Indexing & Discovery Benefits
- Help search engines discover new and updated pages faster, especially on large or frequently updated sites
- Ensure orphan pages without many internal links still get crawled and indexed
- Communicate page priority and update frequency to influence how crawl budget is allocated
- Speed up indexing for newly launched websites that lack external backlinks
Sitemap Best Practices
- Only include canonical, indexable URLs — never list redirects, 404s, or noindex pages
- Keep lastmod dates accurate — only update them when page content genuinely changes
- Reference your sitemap in robots.txt and submit it via Google Search Console
- Stay under the 50,000 URL / 50 MB limit — use a sitemap index file for larger sites
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about XML sitemaps, sitemap tags, and search engine submission
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important URLs on your website in a structured format that search engines can read. It helps crawlers like Googlebot discover and index your pages more efficiently, especially pages that might not be easily found through internal links alone. Creating and maintaining a sitemap is a core part of any technical SEO strategy.
How do I submit my sitemap to Google?
You can submit your sitemap to Google through Google Search Console by navigating to Sitemaps in the left sidebar and entering your sitemap URL. You should also add a Sitemap directive to your robots.txt file (e.g. Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml) so all search engine crawlers can find it automatically.
Where should I place my sitemap.xml file?
Your sitemap.xml file should be placed at the root of your website so it is accessible at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. While sitemaps can technically be placed in any directory, the root location is the standard convention and ensures maximum compatibility with all search engine crawlers.
What is the lastmod tag in a sitemap?
The lastmod tag indicates the date when a page was last modified. It helps search engines decide when to re-crawl a page. The date should be in W3C Datetime format (YYYY-MM-DD). Only update this value when the page content actually changes — do not set it to the current date on every crawl, as search engines may ignore inaccurate lastmod values.
What does changefreq mean in a sitemap?
The changefreq tag provides a hint to search engines about how often a page is likely to change. Valid values are always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. Note that Google has stated it largely ignores this tag and relies on its own crawl scheduling algorithms, but other search engines like Bing may still use it as a signal.
How does priority work in an XML sitemap?
The priority tag is a value between 0.0 and 1.0 that suggests the relative importance of a page compared to other pages on your site. The default value is 0.5. A higher value like 1.0 indicates the most important pages (such as your homepage), while lower values indicate less important pages. Priority only affects how your own pages are ranked relative to each other — it does not influence how your site ranks against other websites.
What is the maximum number of URLs allowed in a sitemap?
A single XML sitemap file can contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs and must not exceed 50 MB when uncompressed. If your site has more than 50,000 URLs, you need to split them across multiple sitemap files and reference them using a sitemap index file. You can also gzip compress your sitemaps to reduce file size.
Do I need a sitemap if my site is small?
Even small websites benefit from having a sitemap. While search engines can usually discover pages on small sites through internal links, a sitemap ensures that every important page is explicitly listed for crawlers. It is especially useful for new websites that do not yet have many inbound links, pages with few internal links, or sites that are updated frequently.
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