sitemap.xml

sitemap.xml is an XML file listing all important URLs on your site, helping search engines quickly discover and index your pages.

Basic structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/page</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-06-22</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Key fields

• •loc — required, absolute page URL
• •lastmod — last modification date (Google uses, Bing partially)
• •changefreq — update frequency (recommendation, not a directive)
• •priority — relative priority within the site (0.0-1.0)

When you need multiple sitemaps

One file fits up to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB. Large sites split into multiple and collect them in a sitemap index.

Extensions

• •Image sitemap — separate indexation of images
• •Video sitemap — for video content
• •News sitemap — for Google News (requires approval)

Top mistakes

1. URLs in sitemap blocked by robots.txt — Google skips them 2. URLs returning 404 — reduces trust 3. Stale lastmod — Google stops trusting dates 4. Not submitted to GSC — the engine doesn't know it exists

How to submit

Google Search Console → Sitemaps → add the URL of your sitemap.xml.