XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a UTF-8 file that uses the Sitemaps protocol to list canonical URL locations a site owner wants participating crawlers to know about. It can also provide a truthful last-modified date and supported extensions for images, video, news, or alternate-language pages. A sitemap supports URL discovery and crawl planning; inclusion is a hint, not a request that guarantees crawling, indexing, canonical selection, ranking, or display.

Why it matters: Generate sitemaps from the same source of truth as routing or publish state. Include absolute, preferred URLs that return the intended content and are eligible for indexing; exclude redirects, errors, duplicates, obsolete URLs, accidental parameters, and pages intentionally blocked from search. Use `<lastmod>` only when it reflects a significant page update—Google ignores `<priority>` and `<changefreq>`. Validate XML, escaping, namespace, status, canonical, and update behavior. Split a file above 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed and reference the parts from a sitemap index. Expose the sitemap through the relevant crawler's supported discovery method, such as a robots.txt `Sitemap` field or webmaster console, then monitor fetch and indexing reports. A sitemap complements crawlable internal links and does not repair weak architecture or force indexing.