Why do sitemaps matter?

They enumerate discoverable URLs, signal optional metadata like lastmod, and help crawlers prioritize large or deep sites—especially when internal linking is weak or content is new. They do not guarantee indexing; quality, relevance, and crawl budget still dominate.

What should I put in changefreq and priority?

Search engines treat them as hints, not commands. Use sensible defaults: higher priority for home and hub pages, lower for archives. Avoid spammy all-1.0 priorities; inconsistency erodes trust signals.

Are there sitemap size limits?

A single sitemap may list up to 50,000 URLs and be at most 50MB uncompressed. Larger sites use a sitemap index pointing to multiple chunk files. Image, video, and news extensions have additional tags when you need rich media discovery.

How does robots.txt relate?

robots.txt can reference your sitemap index with a Sitemap: directive. It does not replace the need for sensible disallow rules—blocking a URL in robots while listing it in a sitemap sends mixed signals.

Should HTTPS sites reference HTTP URLs?

No. Prefer canonical HTTPS URLs in sitemaps, consistent with your TLS setup. Verify certificates with the [SSL certificate checker](/ssl-certificate) and avoid chains that redirect wildly between hosts.

Sitemap Generator

v1.0.0

Easily generate XML sitemaps to improve search engine crawling and indexing. Perfect for SEO optimization on websites of any size, with clean export and instant download.

Sitemap will be generated here

Build an XML sitemap from a starting URL with sensible defaults for large sites. Use it to accelerate discovery while you keep on-page SEO and internal linking in good shape.

Read the full guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do sitemaps matter?: They enumerate discoverable URLs, signal optional metadata like lastmod, and help crawlers prioritize large or deep sites—especially when internal linking is weak or content is new. They do not guarantee indexing; quality, relevance, and crawl budget still dominate.
What should I put in changefreq and priority?: Search engines treat them as hints, not commands. Use sensible defaults: higher priority for home and hub pages, lower for archives. Avoid spammy all-1.0 priorities; inconsistency erodes trust signals.
Are there sitemap size limits?: A single sitemap may list up to 50,000 URLs and be at most 50MB uncompressed. Larger sites use a sitemap index pointing to multiple chunk files. Image, video, and news extensions have additional tags when you need rich media discovery.
How does robots.txt relate?: robots.txt can reference your sitemap index with a Sitemap: directive. It does not replace the need for sensible disallow rules—blocking a URL in robots while listing it in a sitemap sends mixed signals.
Should HTTPS sites reference HTTP URLs?: No. Prefer canonical HTTPS URLs in sitemaps, consistent with your TLS setup. Verify certificates with the [SSL certificate checker](/ssl-certificate) and avoid chains that redirect wildly between hosts.