A sitemap is an XML file that lists all important URLs on your website, helping search engines discover and crawl your content efficiently. It includes each URL's last modification date, change frequency, and relative priority. Sitemaps are especially important for large sites, new sites, and sites with complex navigation.

Google recommends sitemaps for sites with 500+ pages, new sites with few external links, sites with rich media content, and sites where pages aren't well cross-linked. Small, well-linked sites may not need one, but sitemaps never hurt and take minimal effort.

XML Sitemap Generator — Free Tool

What Is a Sitemap Generator?

A sitemap generator creates an XML file listing all important URLs on your website for search engine crawlers. Instead of relying on crawlers to discover every page through links, a sitemap directly tells Google, Bing, and other engines exactly which pages exist, when they were updated, and their relative importance.

Sitemap Best Practices

→ Include only canonical URLs. Don't list duplicate pages, paginated variants, or URLs blocked by robots.txt.
→ Keep it under 50,000 URLs. That's the sitemap protocol limit. For larger sites, use a sitemap index file.
→ Update lastmod dates. Only change lastmod when page content actually changes — don't auto-update daily.
→ Reference in robots.txt. Add Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to your robots.txt file.

How to Use This Sitemap Generator

Enter your URLs — List the pages on your website, or enter your domain to auto-crawl and discover pages.
Set priority and frequency — Assign a priority (0.0–1.0) and change frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) to each URL.
Configure the format — Choose XML sitemap format (standard for search engines) or HTML sitemap (for users).
Download the sitemap — Save the sitemap.xml file and upload it to your site's root directory.

Tips and Best Practices

→ Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. After generating and uploading your sitemap, submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. This accelerates crawling and helps you monitor indexing.
→ Reference your sitemap in robots.txt. Add Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml at the bottom of your robots.txt file.
→ Keep your sitemap under 50,000 URLs. Google limits sitemaps to 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed. For larger sites, use a sitemap index file that references multiple sitemap files.
→ Update your sitemap when content changes. Regenerate or update your sitemap when you add, remove, or significantly change pages. Use the lastmod tag to help search engines prioritize re-crawling.

See also: the Hreflang Generator to add hreflang annotations for multilingual versions of sitemap URLs; and the Internal Link Visualizer to confirm every sitemap URL is reachable through internal links.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a sitemap?

An XML file listing all important URLs, helping search engines discover and crawl content efficiently. Includes last modification date, change frequency, and priority.

Do I need a sitemap?

Recommended for 500+ page sites, new sites, rich media sites, and poorly cross-linked sites. Small, well-linked sites may not need one, but sitemaps never hurt.

How do I submit to Google?

Add the URL in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. Also add 'Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml' to your robots.txt file.

What is a sitemap?+

A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the pages on your website, along with metadata about each page (last modified date, change frequency, priority). Search engines use sitemaps to discover and crawl your pages more efficiently. It's especially important for new sites, large sites, and sites with pages not well-linked internally.

Do I need a sitemap?+

Small sites (under 500 pages) with good internal linking may not need one — search engines can discover pages through crawling. However, a sitemap is recommended for new websites (haven't been discovered yet), large sites, sites with orphan pages (not linked from navigation), and sites that use JavaScript rendering.

Where do I put my sitemap file?+

Place your sitemap.xml in your website's root directory (e.g., https://example.com/sitemap.xml). Reference it in your robots.txt file and submit it to Google Search Console. Some CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify) generate and maintain sitemaps automatically.

How do I submit my sitemap to Google?+

Add your sitemap URL to Google Search Console under Sitemaps. Also reference it in your robots.txt file with: Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Google will discover and crawl the URLs listed in your sitemap.

How do I submit my sitemap to Google?+

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