XML Sitemap Generator
Create XML sitemaps for your website to help search engines discover and index your content. A sitemap is a file that provides information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site, and the relationships between them.
Choose a Method
Manual Entry
Add URLs manually to create a custom sitemap.
Website Crawler
Automatically crawl your website to find all pages.
Import URLs
Import URLs from a text file or existing sitemap.
How to Use the XML Sitemap Generator
- Choose a method to create your sitemap: manual entry, website crawler, or import URLs.
- Add or import the URLs you want to include in your sitemap.
- Configure sitemap settings like priority and change frequency.
- Click "Generate Sitemap" to create your XML sitemap.
- Copy the generated code or download the sitemap.xml file.
- Upload the sitemap.xml file to the root directory of your website.
- Submit your sitemap to search engines through their webmaster tools.
About XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important pages on your website to make sure that search engines can find and crawl them all. It also provides valuable information about each page, such as:
- When the page was last updated
- How often the page changes
- How important the page is relative to other pages on your site
- What language versions of a page are available
- What images or videos are included on the page
Key Components of an XML Sitemap
URL Location
The URL of the page. This is the only required element for each URL entry.
Last Modified
The date the page was last modified, in W3C Datetime format.
Change Frequency
How frequently the page is likely to change. Valid values: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never.
Priority
The importance of this URL relative to other URLs on your site. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Example of a Complete XML Sitemap
Benefits of Using XML Sitemaps
- Better Crawling: Helps search engines discover and crawl all important pages on your site
- Faster Indexing: New or updated content can be discovered and indexed more quickly
- Improved SEO: Ensures search engines understand the structure and importance of your content
- Content Prioritization: Allows you to indicate which pages are most important
- International SEO: Helps search engines understand language and regional versions of your content
Sitemap Size Limits
XML sitemaps have some limitations you should be aware of:
- Maximum 50,000 URLs per sitemap file
- Maximum file size of 50MB (uncompressed)
- For larger sites, use a sitemap index file that links to multiple sitemaps
Complete Guide to XML Sitemap Generator
A free online XML sitemap generator tool designed to simplify your SEO efforts. XML sitemaps are essential for modern websites, helping search engines understand your site structure and prioritize content crawling. Our sitemap creator tool makes it easy for anyone—whether you're a professional developer, small business owner, or content creator—to generate high-quality sitemaps without technical knowledge or coding skills.
Why Your Website Needs a Sitemap
Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo use sitemaps as a roadmap to your website. While modern search engines are sophisticated enough to crawl most sites without explicit sitemaps, providing one offers significant advantages for search engine optimization and indexing efficiency.
- Accelerated Indexing: New pages and updated content are discovered and indexed faster
- Improved Crawl Efficiency: Reduces server load by helping search engines focus on important pages
- Better URL Discovery: Ensures no important pages are overlooked by search engine crawlers
- Content Prioritization: Signal which pages are most important to your business
- Global SEO Support: Indicate alternative language versions for international websites
- Media Indexing: Include images, videos, and other multimedia content
How Our Sitemap Generator Works
Our free XML sitemap maker uses three powerful methods to create comprehensive sitemaps:
1. Manual URL Entry
Perfect for small websites or when you want precise control. Add URLs one by one, specifying priority levels, change frequency, and last modification dates. This method gives you complete customization over every aspect of your sitemap.
2. Automated Website Crawler
Our intelligent crawler automatically discovers and maps all pages on your website. It follows internal links, respects robots.txt rules, and can find hundreds of pages in minutes. The crawler respects crawl limits to prevent server overload while efficiently mapping your entire site structure.
3. Import Existing URLs
Already have URLs listed elsewhere? Import from text files, CSV files, or existing sitemaps. Our import tool handles various formats and instantly creates a new optimized sitemap from your data.
Sitemap Configuration and Best Practices
Our advanced sitemap configuration options help you optimize your SEO strategy:
Priority Settings
Assign priority values (0.0 to 1.0) to indicate page importance. Your homepage typically deserves 1.0 (highest), important category pages might be 0.8, and less critical pages 0.3 or lower. This helps search engines allocate crawl budget more effectively.
Change Frequency Hints
Specify how often pages change (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or never). Search engines use this information to determine crawl frequency, helping them spend more time on frequently updated content and less on static pages.
Last Modified Dates
Include accurate modification dates to signal freshness. Search engines may prioritize more recently updated content, making this especially important for blogs, news sites, and frequently updated resources.
Alternate Language Support
For international websites, use XHTML alternate links to indicate language and regional variants. This is crucial for multilingual SEO and helps search engines properly index content in different languages.
Technical Features and Capabilities
Our sitemap generator includes enterprise-level features:
- Large Site Support: Split sitemaps for sites with 1,000+ URLs
- Sitemap Index Generation: Automatically create sitemap indexes for managing multiple sitemap files
- Image Sitemap Support: Include image metadata for better image search visibility
- Video Sitemap Ready: Structure for video content optimization
- Mobile Sitemap Options: Designate mobile-specific URLs
- Robots.txt Integration: Respects and validates against robots.txt rules
Submitting Your Sitemap to Search Engines
After generating your sitemap, submission to search engines is straightforward:
Google Search Console
Sign in to Google Search Console, navigate to Sitemaps, and submit your sitemap URL. Google will process it within hours.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Submit through Bing Webmaster Tools for Bing search engine indexing and monitoring.
Other Search Engines
Submit to Yandex Webmaster for Russian and Eastern European markets.
Sitemap Best Practices for Maximum SEO Impact
- Keep URLs Valid: Remove any broken or redirected URLs before adding to sitemap
- Follow URL Standards: Use absolute URLs with proper protocols (https://)
- Prioritize Accurately: Don't abuse priority—only use 1.0 for truly critical pages
- Update Regularly: Regenerate sitemaps when adding significant new content
- Monitor Performance: Check Search Console for crawl errors and issues
- Include Canonical URLs: If using rel="canonical", ensure consistency in sitemap
- Exclude Noindex Pages: Don't include pages marked with noindex meta tag
Common Sitemap Questions Answered
New users often ask about sitemap specifications and limits. The XML sitemap standard has specific requirements:
- Maximum URLs Per File: 50,000 URLs per single sitemap
- Maximum File Size: 50MB uncompressed (use .gz compression for larger files)
- Character Encoding: Must use UTF-8 encoding
- URL Limit in Sitemap Index: 50,000 sitemap files per index file
For websites exceeding these limits, create a sitemap index that references multiple individual sitemaps. Our tool automatically handles splitting for large sites.
Troubleshooting Common Sitemap Issues
If your sitemap isn't working properly, check these common issues:
- XML Format Errors: Ensure valid XML structure and proper character encoding
- URL Validation: All URLs must be valid and properly formatted with http:// or https://
- File Location: Place sitemap.xml in your website's root directory
- Robots.txt Reference: Add sitemap location to robots.txt:
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml - Update Frequency: Remove or update sitemaps that become outdated
Free vs Paid Sitemap Tools
Our sitemap generator is completely free with no hidden limitations. Unlike some competitors, we don't restrict features based on site size or URL count within reasonable limits. You get the same professional features whether you're optimizing a small blog or a large e-commerce site.
This tool is designed to be simple, fast, and effective. Whether you are a professional SEO specialist, web developer, small business owner, or content creator, our XML sitemap generator is here to help. We continuously update our tools to ensure accuracy and provide the best user experience without requiring registration or payment.
Frequently Asked Questions About XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a file containing a list of all important pages on your website. It helps search engines discover, crawl, and index your content more efficiently. While search engines can find most pages through link following, a sitemap ensures nothing is missed, accelerates new content discovery, and communicates page importance through priority settings. It's particularly valuable for large sites, sites with isolated content, or sites updated frequently with new pages.
Absolutely! Our free sitemap generator requires zero technical knowledge. Simply choose your method (manual entry, website crawler, or import), add your URLs, configure your preferences, and download. No coding, no command line, no complicated software—just a simple, user-friendly interface anyone can use. Our automated crawler can even discover all your pages automatically.
Submission is straightforward. First, upload your sitemap.xml to your website's root directory. Then: For Google, use Google Search Console to submit your sitemap URL. For Bing, submit through Bing Webmaster Tools. You can also add your sitemap URL to robots.txt with the line: Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Most search engines will automatically find it this way.
Priority (0.0-1.0) indicates relative importance of pages on your site—1.0 for most important, like your homepage, and lower values for less critical pages. Change frequency tells search engines how often the page is updated (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never). Search engines use frequency hints to determine crawl scheduling, visiting frequently-updated pages more often and static pages less frequently. Don't overuse high priority values; only mark truly important pages as 1.0.
Yes, XML sitemaps have limits: maximum 50,000 URLs per file and 50MB file size (uncompressed). For larger sites, create a sitemap index file that references multiple individual sitemaps. You can have up to 50,000 sitemap files in an index. Our tool automatically handles splitting for large sites, making it easy to manage even extensive content libraries with hundreds of thousands of URLs.
Yes! Our sitemap generator supports image sitemaps, allowing you to include image metadata like URL, title, and caption. Video sitemaps follow a similar structure with video-specific information. These enhance your chances of appearing in Google Images and Video search results. Enable these options in the configuration section to include rich media metadata alongside your page URLs.
Update your sitemap whenever you add significant new content or remove old pages. For blogs and news sites with frequent updates, regenerate weekly or monthly. For static sites, updating every quarter is usually sufficient. Our tool makes regeneration quick and easy—just add your new URLs and download the updated file. Keep old, removed URLs out of your sitemap to maintain accuracy and credibility with search engines.
Yes, they serve different purposes. Robots.txt controls what search engines CAN crawl (blocking access to specific directories or pages). Your sitemap suggests what you WANT search engines to crawl and index. They're complementary—add your sitemap location to robots.txt so crawlers find it immediately. For best results, use both: robots.txt for access control and sitemaps for crawl optimization.
Absolutely! E-commerce sites benefit greatly from sitemaps. Use our crawler to automatically discover all product pages, or import product URLs from your database. You can set different priorities for products (0.8), categories (0.7), and static pages (0.6). Include product images in your sitemap to boost image search visibility. For large catalogs with thousands of products, our automatic splitting feature handles the technical complexity.
Our crawler starts at your homepage and follows all internal links to discover pages. It respects robots.txt rules and crawl limits to avoid server overload. The crawler identifies new URLs within your domain and ignores external links. It can discover hundreds of pages in minutes. For maximum accuracy, ensure all important pages are linked from your navigation or sitemap, as the crawler can only find pages that are reachable through links.