What SEO tools does Texterfly offer?

Texterfly offers 11 free SEO and content tools: Robots.txt Generator, XML Sitemap Generator, Schema Markup Generator, Meta Tag Generator, Content Optimizer, Advanced Readability & Content Grader, Keyword Research Tool, Keyword Density Checker, SEO Analyzer, Alt Text Generator, and Privacy Policy Generator. All are free, browser-based, and require no signup.

What is the ideal meta title length for SEO?

Google displays meta titles up to approximately 600px wide, which corresponds to roughly 50–60 characters. Titles shorter than 50 characters may miss keyword opportunities; titles longer than 60 characters are truncated in search results with an ellipsis. The Meta Tag Generator includes a live character counter and pixel-width preview.

What is the ideal meta description length?

Google typically shows meta descriptions of 150–160 characters in search results (up to about 920px). Longer descriptions are truncated. Meta descriptions do not directly affect rankings, but they influence click-through rate (CTR). Write descriptions that include the primary keyword and a clear call to action.

What should a robots.txt file contain?

A valid robots.txt file uses User-agent directives to specify which crawlers the rules apply to, Disallow directives to block specific paths, Allow directives to override Disallow rules for subpaths, a Sitemap directive pointing to your sitemap.xml URL, and optionally a Crawl-delay to throttle bot crawl frequency. Example: "User-agent: * / Disallow: /admin/ / Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml".

What is schema markup and why does it matter for SEO?

Schema markup (structured data) is JSON-LD or Microdata code added to your HTML that helps search engines understand your content. It can unlock rich results in Google Search — such as star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs, event dates, and How-To steps — which increase visibility and CTR without directly affecting rankings. The Schema Markup Generator produces ready-to-paste JSON-LD for 15+ schema types.

What is keyword density and what is the ideal percentage?

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears relative to the total word count. The formula is: (keyword occurrences ÷ total words) × 100. A density of 1–3% is generally considered optimal. Below 1% may signal that the topic is not well covered; above 3% risks keyword stuffing, which can trigger Google penalties. The Keyword Density Checker calculates this instantly.

Why is alt text important for SEO?

Alt text (alternative text) serves two SEO purposes: it describes images to search engine crawlers, helping images rank in Google Images; and it makes content accessible to screen readers used by visually impaired users. Good alt text is descriptive, includes the primary keyword naturally where relevant, and is typically 8–15 words. The Alt Text Generator analyses image content and suggests optimised alt text.

What is an XML sitemap and how does it help SEO?

An XML sitemap is a file (sitemap.xml) that lists all important URLs on your website with optional metadata (lastmod, changefreq, priority). It helps search engines discover pages they might miss through crawling — especially new pages, orphaned pages, and pages with few internal links. Submitting it to Google Search Console can significantly speed up indexing.

What is the Flesch-Kincaid readability score?

The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score rates text on a 0–100 scale. Higher scores mean easier reading: 90–100 is very easy (5th grade); 60–70 is standard (8th–9th grade); 30–50 is difficult (college level); 0–30 is very difficult (professional). Most general web content should aim for 60–70. The Readability Grader calculates Flesch-Kincaid and four other readability formulas.

What schema markup types does the generator support?

The Schema Markup Generator supports: Article, BlogPosting, Product, Review, FAQPage, HowTo, Recipe, Event, LocalBusiness, Organization, Person, BreadcrumbList, WebSite (with SearchAction), VideoObject, and WebApplication. Each generates valid JSON-LD that can be tested in Google's Rich Results Test.

Are these SEO tools free?

Yes. All 11 SEO and content tools on Texterfly are 100% free with no registration, subscription, or payment required.

Is my content private when using these tools?

Yes. All processing runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your content, URLs, and data are never sent to any server or stored anywhere.

What is priority in an XML sitemap?

Priority is a value between 0.0 and 1.0 that indicates how important a URL is relative to other URLs on your site. A value of 1.0 is the highest priority; 0.1 is the lowest. The default is 0.5. Priority only signals relative importance within your own site — it does not affect ranking compared to other websites. Note that Google has stated it largely ignores the priority value.

What is changefreq in an XML sitemap?

Changefreq is a hint to search engines about how frequently a page's content changes. Valid values are: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. Google has stated it uses this value only as a hint and may not follow it strictly.

What is lastmod in an XML sitemap?

Lastmod is the date when a page was last modified, in W3C Datetime format (e.g. 2024-06-10 or 2024-06-10T12:00:00+00:00). Google uses lastmod to help prioritize which pages to crawl. Accurate lastmod values improve crawl efficiency. Inaccurate or fake lastmod values can cause Google to distrust your sitemap.

How do I submit a sitemap to Google Search Console?

Log in to Google Search Console. Select your property. In the left sidebar, click Sitemaps. In the "Add a new sitemap" field, enter the path to your sitemap (e.g. sitemap.xml). Click Submit. Google will process the sitemap and report how many URLs were submitted and indexed.

How often should I update my XML sitemap?

Update your sitemap whenever you add, remove, or significantly change pages on your website. For dynamic sites that add content frequently (blogs, e-commerce), automate sitemap generation. After updating, re-submit the sitemap URL to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so search engines know to recrawl.

Back to SEO & Content Tools

Free · No Signup · Per-URL Controls · Instant Download

Free XML Sitemap Generator

Build a standards-compliant sitemap.xml with full per-URL control — set priority, changefreq, and lastmod for every page. Bulk import, validate, download, and submit to Google in minutes.

Up to 50,000 URLsPer-URL ControlsBulk ImportURL ValidationSitemap Index GeneratorGSC Submission Guide

Default Settings

Priority

Change Frequency

Last Modified

Bulk Import URLs (one per line, or comma/semicolon separated)

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If you find this calculator helpful, please consider supporting our work. Your contribution helps us build and maintain these free tools for everyone.

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What 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.

While a sitemap is not a direct Google ranking factor, it is strongly recommended for any website with more than a handful of pages. Without one, newly published content may take days or weeks to be indexed. With a properly formatted sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, new pages can be indexed within hours.

🔍

Faster Indexing

Search engines discover new and updated pages as soon as you submit the sitemap.

🗺️

Complete Coverage

Ensures orphaned pages (those without internal links) are still found and 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. Accurate values improve crawl efficiency.	2024-06-10
<changefreq>	No	How often the page typically changes. A hint only — not strictly followed by Google.	weekly
<priority>	No	Relative importance (0.0–1.0) within your own site. Default is 0.5. Does not affect ranking vs other sites.	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 treats both priority and changefreq as hints. Lastmod is the most actionable value for Googlebot.

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.

Automatic Ping (Alternative Method)

You can also notify search engines by pinging them directly — no login required:

Google

https://www.google.com/ping?sitemap=https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Bing

https://www.bing.com/ping?sitemap=https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain. You can also add your sitemap URL to your robots.txt file: Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

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.

Max URLs across all sitemaps

2.5 billion

50,000 sitemaps × 50,000 URLs each.

When your site has more than 50,000 URLs, 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 use it to discover and crawl your pages more efficiently.

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). Without a sitemap, some pages may never be indexed.

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 has publicly stated that it largely 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

Robots.txt GeneratorGenerate a valid robots.txt to control crawler access. Add your sitemap URL to robots.txt automatically.Meta Tag GeneratorCreate optimized title, description, and Open Graph tags for every page in your sitemap.Schema Markup GeneratorAdd structured data to your pages to help Google understand your content.Keyword Density CheckerAnalyse keyword frequency in your page content to optimize for your target queries.

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