Free XML Sitemap Generator
Create an XML sitemap.xml for your website. Add URLs manually, import a list, or crawl your site, then review the entries and download the file. Include accurate last-modified dates when you know them.
Last updated August 13, 2026 · Reviewed by the Texterfly SEO Tools team
Default Settings
Want the Full SEO Template System?
The Complete SEO Toolkit — 11 schema templates, a technical SEO playbook, and a priority-scored audit workbook. One-time download.
Support Our Free Tools
If you find this calculator helpful, please consider supporting our work. Your contribution helps us build and maintain these free tools for everyone.
Buy me a coffeeWhat Is an XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file, typically named sitemap.xml, that lists all the important URLs on your website and provides metadata about each page. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex read this file to discover and crawl your pages more efficiently — especially pages that might not be reachable through regular internal linking.
A sitemap does not guarantee that a URL will be crawled, indexed, or ranked, and submitting one does not guarantee a particular indexing speed. Keep it up to date and include only URLs you want search engines to consider.
URL Discovery
A sitemap can help search engines discover URLs; submission does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
Complete Coverage
Can help search engines discover URLs that have few internal links, but does not ensure they will be crawled.
Crawl Insights
Google Search Console shows how many URLs were submitted vs. indexed, revealing gaps.
XML Sitemap Format Reference
Every valid sitemap must follow the sitemaps.org protocol. Here are all supported elements:
| Element | Required? | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| <loc> | Yes | The canonical URL of the page. Must be fully qualified (include https://). | https://example.com/about |
| <lastmod> | No | Date the page was last modified. Use W3C Datetime format. Google may use accurate lastmod values to understand when a page changed. | 2024-06-10 |
| <changefreq> | No | How often the page typically changes. Google ignores this field. | weekly |
| <priority> | No | Optional value in the protocol; Google ignores it. | 0.8 |
Minimal valid sitemap example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-10</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2024-05-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>Priority & Changefreq — What Values to Use
Priority Values
| Value | Use for |
|---|---|
| 1.0 | Homepage |
| 0.9 | Top-level category or pillar pages |
| 0.8 | Important product or service pages |
| 0.7 | Blog posts and articles |
| 0.5 | Default — standard content pages |
| 0.3 | Archive, tag, or search result pages |
| 0.1 | Low-value utility pages |
Changefreq Values
| Value | Use for |
|---|---|
| always | Pages that change every visit (live data) |
| hourly | News sites, live sports, stock prices |
| daily | Blogs with daily posts, news homepages |
| weekly | Regular blog content, product catalogues |
| monthly | About pages, services, evergreen content |
| yearly | Legal pages, FAQs, rarely changed content |
| never | Archived or permanent historical content |
Google ignores priority and changefreq. Provide lastmod only when it accurately reflects a significant page update.
How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console
- 1
Upload sitemap.xml to your server root
Place the downloaded sitemap.xml in the root directory of your website so it is accessible at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. If you use WordPress, Shopify, or another CMS, check whether a sitemap is already auto-generated at that path.
- 2
Open Google Search Console
Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in. Make sure your website is verified as a property. If not, verify it using one of the methods Google provides (HTML tag, DNS record, Google Analytics, etc.).
- 3
Go to Sitemaps
In the left sidebar, under "Indexing", click Sitemaps. You will see any previously submitted sitemaps and a field to add a new one.
- 4
Enter your sitemap URL
In the "Add a new sitemap" field, enter the path to your sitemap — typically just sitemap.xml (the domain prefix is already shown). Then click Submit.
- 5
Monitor coverage
After submission, Google will crawl and report on your sitemap. The Sitemaps section will show how many URLs were discovered and how many are indexed. If some pages show errors, click through for details and fix the underlying issues.
- 6
Resubmit after major updates
Whenever you add or remove a significant number of pages, update your sitemap and resubmit it in Search Console. For ongoing updates, consider automating sitemap generation as part of your deployment pipeline.
Submit to Bing Webmaster Tools & Other Search Engines
Bing Webmaster Tools
- 1Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in.
- 2Add and verify your website as a site.
- 3In the left sidebar, click Sitemaps.
- 4Click Submit sitemap, enter https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, and confirm.
- 5Bing will report submission status and crawl results.
Declare Your Sitemap
Google recommends submitting your sitemap in Search Console or listing its absolute URL in your robots.txt file. Do not use the retired Google sitemap ping endpoint.
Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xmlReplace the example domain with your website’s domain. Submitting a sitemap is a hint, not a guarantee of crawling or indexing.
Sitemap Limits & Sitemap Index Files
Max URLs per sitemap
50,000
Per sitemaps.org protocol
Max file size
50 MB
Uncompressed. Use .gz for larger files.
Max sitemaps per index
50,000
A sitemap index can reference up to 50,000 sitemaps.
Total URLs
No fixed combined limit
Each sitemap file and sitemap index has its own limits.
When a sitemap exceeds either 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed, split the sitemap into multiple files and reference them from a sitemap index file. The index uses a<sitemapindex>element instead of <urlset>:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-1.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-10</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-2.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-10</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>Use the Sitemap Index Generator panel above to create this file automatically.
Image Sitemaps
An image sitemap extends the standard sitemap format with<image:image> elements inside each URL entry. Including images in your sitemap helps Google discover and index your images for Google Images search, which can drive significant additional traffic for photography, e-commerce, and media-heavy sites.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/product/blue-widget</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://example.com/images/blue-widget.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>Blue Widget Product Photo</image:title>
<image:caption>High-quality blue widget, available in S/M/L</image:caption>
</image:image>
</url>
</urlset>XML Sitemap Best Practices
Include only canonical URLs
Only add the canonical version of each URL. Do not include redirected, noindex, or paginated URLs.
Use accurate lastmod dates
Only update lastmod when content actually changes. Fake or static dates can cause Google to distrust your sitemap.
Add your sitemap to robots.txt
Include "Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml" in your robots.txt so crawlers find it automatically.
Keep it under 50,000 URLs and 50MB
Split into multiple sitemaps and use a sitemap index if you exceed either limit.
Automate generation
For frequently updated sites, regenerate the sitemap as part of your build or CMS publishing workflow.
Monitor in Search Console
Regularly check the Sitemaps section to catch indexing errors, "Discovered – currently not indexed" issues, and crawl anomalies.
Don't include blocked URLs
Don't add pages blocked by robots.txt or tagged with noindex. It wastes crawl budget and confuses search engines.
Don't use relative URLs
All <loc> values must be absolute URLs including the protocol (https://) and domain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file (sitemap.xml) that lists all the important URLs on your website along with metadata like last modification date, change frequency, and priority. Search engines can use it to discover URLs, but it does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
Do I need a sitemap to rank in Google?
A sitemap is not a ranking signal, but it is strongly recommended. Google says sitemaps are especially important for large sites, new sites with few backlinks, and sites with orphaned pages (those not linked from elsewhere). A sitemap is a discovery aid, not a requirement or guarantee of indexing.
How many URLs can an XML sitemap contain?
A single sitemap file can contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs and must not exceed 50MB uncompressed. If you exceed either limit, split into multiple sitemaps and reference them from a sitemap index file.
What is priority in a sitemap?
Priority (0.0–1.0) indicates how important a URL is relative to other pages on your own site — not compared to other websites. The default is 0.5. Google has stated it largely ignores this value, but Bing and other search engines may use it.
What is changefreq?
Changefreq is a hint about how often a page's content changes (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never). Google treats it as a hint and may not follow it strictly. Lastmod is more reliable and actionable.
Does Google use priority and changefreq?
Google ignores both priority and changefreq. Lastmod is the most useful value — accurate lastmod dates help Google decide which pages to recrawl. Bing and Yandex are more likely to use all three values.
How do I submit a sitemap to Google?
Upload sitemap.xml to your server root (so it's at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml). Then go to Google Search Console → Sitemaps → enter "sitemap.xml" → click Submit. Monitor coverage reports for indexing results.
What is a sitemap index file?
A sitemap index is an XML file that references multiple individual sitemap files. It's required when your site has more than 50,000 URLs. The index uses <sitemapindex> instead of <urlset> and lists each sitemap's location and lastmod date.
What is an image sitemap?
An image sitemap extends standard XML sitemaps with <image:image> elements that tell Google about images hosted on your pages. This helps your images appear in Google Images, which can drive significant additional traffic for media-heavy sites.
How often should I update my sitemap?
Update your sitemap whenever you add, remove, or significantly change pages. For frequently updated sites (blogs, e-commerce), automate sitemap generation. After updating, resubmit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console.
What is the difference between an XML sitemap and an HTML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is for search engines — machine-readable, not meant for users. An HTML sitemap is a browsable page for human visitors, listing all sections and pages. Both can coexist on a website and serve complementary purposes.
Should I include noindex pages in my sitemap?
No. Never include pages tagged with "noindex" in your sitemap. Doing so sends contradictory signals to search engines — you are simultaneously saying "index this" (via the sitemap) and "don't index this" (via the noindex tag). Only include pages you want indexed.
Can I have multiple sitemaps?
Yes. Large sites often have separate sitemaps for different content types — e.g. sitemap-pages.xml, sitemap-blog.xml, sitemap-products.xml. Reference all of them from a sitemap index file and submit the index URL to Google Search Console.
What happens if I have duplicate URLs in my sitemap?
Duplicate URLs do not cause penalties, but they waste crawl budget and are generally ignored by search engines. Use the built-in duplicate detection in this tool to identify and remove them before generating your sitemap.
Related SEO Tools
Explore All Tools
134 free tools — no signup required
All 134 tools are free · No signup · No ads