What is a sitemap?
A sitemap is an XML file containing a list of all the pages on a website that you want search engines to index. The file helps Google and Yandex crawlers find and update information about your pages more quickly.
Sitemaps were standardized in the Sitemaps Protocol 0.9 and are supported by all major search engines.
Why you need a sitemap
A sitemap is especially important if:
- The website is large (more than 500 pages)
- There are few internal links between pages
- Content is updated frequently
- The website is new and has no external links
- There are pages with dynamic content or videos/images
Search engine crawlers may miss pages without a sitemap, especially pages nested deep within the site.
Sitemap XML structure
Basic 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>2026-03-18</lastmod>
<changefreq>daily</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2026-01-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>Main elements
| Element | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
<loc> | Absolute URL of the page | Yes |
<lastmod> | Date of last modification | No |
<changefreq> | Update frequency | No |
<priority> | Priority (0.1—1.0) | No |
Sitemap index for large websites
<?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>How to add a sitemap to Google Search Console
- Open Google Search Console
- Select your property
- Go to the “Sitemaps” section
- Enter the URL:
https://example.com/sitemap.xml - Click “Submit”
Check a sitemap with reChecker
Use Sitemap Checker to analyze your sitemap.xml file. The tool checks:
- Whether the file is available at the standard URL
- Whether the XML structure is valid
- Whether there are errors in the URLs
- The number of pages in the sitemap
FAQ
What is the maximum sitemap size? A single sitemap file can contain up to 50 000 URLs and be no larger than 50 MB. If you exceed these limits, use a sitemap index.
Does a small website need a sitemap? A sitemap is useful even for a small website: it speeds up indexing and gives search engines precise information about page updates.
What is the difference between robots.txt and a sitemap? Robots.txt allows or disallows crawling, while a sitemap indicates which pages are important to index. They work together: robots.txt controls access, and a sitemap indicates priorities.