Free XML Sitemap Generator

Your Guide to a Perfect XML Sitemap

An XML (eXtensible Markup Language) sitemap is a crucial file for technical SEO. It acts as a roadmap of your website, given directly to search engines like Google and Bing. This file lists all the important pages you want them to crawl and index. While a sitemap isn't a magic bullet for top rankings, it dramatically improves a search engine's ability to discover your content efficiently, which is vital for large sites, new sites with few backlinks, or websites with a complex structure. Our generator gives you the manual control needed to create a clean and effective sitemap.

Why Manual Control Beats Automated Crawlers

Many online sitemap generators crawl your website like a search engine, following links from the homepage. While convenient, this automated approach has significant flaws that can harm your SEO efforts. A manual generator, like this one, puts you in complete control.

• Include Every Important Page: Automated crawlers can miss pages that aren't linked internally (known as "orphan pages"). With a manual tool, you guarantee every valuable page is included.
• Exclude Unwanted URLs: Crawlers often find and include pages you don't want indexed, such as thank-you pages, internal search results, or non-canonical URLs. This sends mixed signals to Google.
• Optimize Crawl Budget: By only including your most important, high-quality pages, you help search engines focus their limited crawl budget on the content that matters most, rather than wasting it on low-value pages.
• Total Control Over Parameters: You can individually set the priority and change frequency for each URL, providing more granular instructions to search engines.

How to Use Our XML Sitemap Generator

Creating your sitemap is a simple, six-step process designed for clarity and precision.

1. List Your URLs: Collect all the canonical URLs you want search engines to index. These are the most important, original pages on your site.
2. Add URLs to the Tool: Paste your URLs into the input fields. Use the "+ Add URL" button to add more rows or "Import From List" to paste a bulk list of URLs.
3. Set Optional Parameters: For each URL, you can suggest a 'Change Frequency' and a 'Priority'. The default settings are safe for most use cases.
4. Generate and Review: The XML code is generated automatically in real-time in the output box. Review it to ensure all your desired URLs are listed correctly.
5. Copy or Download: Click "Copy to Clipboard" to paste the code into your own file or "Download sitemap.xml" to get a ready-to-use file.
6. Upload and Submit: Upload the sitemap.xml file to your website's root directory. Then, submit its location (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Understanding XML Sitemap Tags

Our generator uses the standard sitemap protocol. Here is a brief explanation of each element:

• <urlset>: The root tag that contains all the URLs in the sitemap.
• <url>: The parent tag for each individual URL entry.
• <loc>: The location, or the full, absolute URL of the page. This is the only mandatory tag within a <url> block.
• <changefreq>: An optional hint to search engines about how often the page content is likely to change (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
• <priority>: An optional tag that indicates the importance of a specific URL relative to other URLs on your own site, with a value from 0.0 to 1.0.

Note: Google has stated they do not heavily rely on changefreq and priority anymore, but these tags are still part of the official sitemap standard and can provide context to search engines.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What is the difference between an XML sitemap and an HTML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a code file written specifically for search engines to help them find and understand your site's structure. An HTML sitemap is a visible page on your site designed to help human users navigate your content. For SEO, an XML sitemap is essential.

Q2: Does a sitemap guarantee my pages will be indexed by Google?

No, a sitemap does not guarantee indexing. It's a strong recommendation to search engines about the pages you want them to crawl. Indexing depends on many factors, including content quality, site authority, and technical health. However, a sitemap significantly increases the chances of your content being discovered and crawled.

Q3: Should I include "noindexed" pages in my sitemap?

No. Your sitemap is a list of pages you want indexed. Including URLs that are marked "noindex" sends conflicting signals to search engines and should be avoided. Only include indexable, canonical URLs.

Q4: How many URLs can I include in one sitemap file?

A single XML sitemap file is limited to 50,000 URLs and a file size of 50MB (uncompressed). If your site is larger, you must create multiple sitemap files and list them in a single sitemap index file.

Q5: How do I submit my sitemap to Google?

After uploading the sitemap.xml file to your site's root directory, log in to Google Search Console. Go to the "Sitemaps" section in the menu, paste the URL of your sitemap (e.g., sitemap.xml), and click "Submit."