Technical SEO · Beginner

XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs on a site you want search engines to crawl and index, optionally with the date each page last changed. It helps new and updated pages get found faster.

By Thryv StudioUpdated

Level
Beginner
Also called
Sitemap
Limit per file
50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed
Submit in
Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
Check it free
Sitemap Generator

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of your important URLs. Search engines use it as a discovery hint: it doesn't guarantee indexing, but it helps them find pages they might otherwise miss. Large sites split their URLs across several sitemaps listed in a sitemap index.

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url><loc>https://example.com/</loc><lastmod>2026-03-01</lastmod></url>
</urlset>

Best practices

  1. List only canonical, indexable pages that return 200.
  2. Keep lastmod accurate; Google uses it only when it's consistently reliable.
  3. Point to the sitemap from robots.txt and submit it in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
  4. Update it automatically when pages are added or removed.

Common mistakes

  • Including redirected, noindex or broken URLs.
  • Setting every page's lastmod to today.
  • Relying on priority and changefreq, which Google ignores.

Frequently asked questions

Do small sites need a sitemap?

A small, well-linked site can be crawled without one, but a sitemap is easy to add and helps new pages get found.

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