Free XML sitemap generator
Paste your pages, one per line, and get a valid sitemap.xml you can copy or download. Relative paths use your domain, full URLs are kept as they are, and nothing leaves your browser.
0 URLs ready
Your sitemap.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> </urlset>
Upload it to /sitemap.xml, reference it in robots.txt, then submit it in Search Console.
How to create an XML sitemap
- 1
Enter your website URL
Relative paths are expanded against this origin, so /pricing becomes https://yourdomain.com/pricing. Full URLs are left untouched.
- 2
Paste your pages, one per line
List only canonical, indexable URLs that return 200. Leave out redirects, paginated duplicates, tag archives and anything blocked by robots.txt.
- 3
Set changefreq, priority and lastmod
These are hints, not commands. Set lastmod only when the content genuinely changed on that date, otherwise crawlers learn to ignore it.
- 4
Download sitemap.xml and upload it
Serve it at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml as application/xml, and add a Sitemap line pointing to it in robots.txt.
- 5
Submit it in Google Search Console
Open the Sitemaps report, submit the URL once, then check back for the discovered-URL count and any parsing errors.
Single sitemap or sitemap index?
One sitemap file can hold up to 50,000 URLs and 50MB uncompressed. Below that, a single sitemap.xml at the root is all you need.
Larger sites split by section, then point a sitemap index at each file. Submit only the index in Search Console.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>Validate before you submit
- Every URL must be absolute and on the same host as the sitemap.
- Ampersands and other reserved characters must be escaped, for example
&. This generator escapes them for you. - Only include canonical URLs that return 200 and are not noindexed or robots-blocked.
- Add a
Sitemap:line to robots.txt with the robots.txt generator.
Check whether your sitemap is discoverable
Run a free SEO and GEO audit to confirm your sitemap is served, referenced in robots.txt, and matched by crawlable, indexable pages.
Frequently asked questions
- What is an XML sitemap?
- An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of the URLs on a site that you want search engines to crawl. It helps discovery on large sites, new sites with few links, and pages that are not well linked internally.
- Where should sitemap.xml live?
- At the root of the host, such as https://example.com/sitemap.xml, served with an XML content type. A sitemap can only list URLs on the host it is served from.
- How many URLs can one sitemap hold?
- A single sitemap file is limited to 50,000 URLs and 50MB uncompressed. Beyond that, split it into multiple sitemaps and reference them from a sitemap index file.
- Do priority and changefreq affect rankings?
- No. Google ignores priority and treats changefreq as a weak hint at best. They do not influence rankings, so keep them simple and accurate rather than tuning them.
- Should lastmod be today's date?
- Only if the page actually changed today. Sitemaps that stamp every URL with the build date are treated as unreliable, which weakens the signal for pages that really did change.
- Which URLs should I leave out?
- Non-canonical duplicates, redirect targets' sources, noindex pages, URLs blocked in robots.txt, login and account pages, and anything returning a non-200 status.