Most sitemap generators hand you a file with every URL set to priority 0.8, "weekly" and today's date. It looks complete, but Google and Bing both ignore priority and change frequency, and a last-modified date that's the same for every page tells them nothing useful.
A sitemap that search engines actually trust is simpler: only the pages you want indexed, in the exact URL format your site uses, with modification dates where you have them. This free XML sitemap generator builds that file for you and checks your list for the mistakes that make sitemaps less useful.
The short answer: an XML sitemap is a file, usually at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml, that lists the pages you want search engines to crawl. To create one, paste your URLs into the generator above, download sitemap.xml, upload it to your site's root folder, and submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. If you use WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or Blogger, you already have one.
What Is an XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file that lists the URLs on a website you want search engines to find, optionally with the date each page last changed. It follows the sitemaps.org protocol, which Google, Bing and other search engines all support.
It's different from an HTML sitemap, which is a normal page of links for visitors. The XML version is for crawlers only; visitors never need to see it.
XML sitemap example
Here is a small but complete sitemap for a three-page site:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-09-20</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/services/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-09-12</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/contact/</loc>
</url>
</urlset>
| Tag | What it does | Do search engines use it? |
|---|
<urlset> | Wraps the whole list and declares the sitemap protocol | Required |
<loc> | The full, absolute URL of one page | Required |
<lastmod> | When the page's content last changed meaningfully | Yes, by Google and Bing, if it's accurate |
<changefreq> | How often you expect the page to change | No. Ignored by Google and Bing |
<priority> | A 0.0–1.0 importance score relative to your other pages | No. Ignored by Google and Bing |
Is a Sitemap Necessary for SEO?
A sitemap isn't required, but most sites benefit from one. Google's own guidance says you might not need a sitemap if your site is "about 500 pages or fewer", is well linked internally, and doesn't rely on lots of images, videos or news pages. It also says that "in most cases, your site will benefit from having a sitemap".
A sitemap matters most when:
- The site is new and has few links from other websites, so crawlers have few ways in.
- The site is large, and some pages sit several clicks away from the homepage.
- Content changes often, like a blog, a news site or a shop with changing stock, and you want updates found quickly.
- Pages aren't well linked, such as landing pages that aren't in the main menu.
What a sitemap won't do is make a page rank or guarantee it gets indexed. Google says plainly that "a sitemap doesn't guarantee that all the items in your sitemap will be crawled and indexed". It helps search engines find your pages; the quality of those pages decides the rest.
What Is a Sitemap Generator Used For?
A sitemap generator, also called an XML sitemap builder or sitemap creator, turns a list of pages into correctly formatted sitemap XML, so you don't have to write the tags by hand. There are three kinds, and the best free XML sitemap generator for you depends on how your site is built:
| Type | How it works | Best for |
|---|
| Built into your CMS | WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and Blogger create and update a sitemap automatically | Any site on those platforms. Use this first; it stays up to date on its own |
| Crawler | Follows links from your homepage and lists what it finds, e.g. Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or online crawlers | Sites where you don't know every URL. Check the result, because crawlers also pick up pages you don't want indexed |
| URL list generator (this tool) | You paste the exact URLs and dates; it builds and checks the XML | Static and hand-coded sites, landing page sets, and anyone who wants full control over what's listed |
The two work well together: crawl your site with a crawler, delete the URLs you don't want indexed, then paste the clean list here to build the final file.
Which Pages Should Be in Your Sitemap?
Include only pages you'd be happy to see in search results. Every URL in the sitemap should be the canonical version, load with a 200 status, and be indexable.
| Include | Leave out |
|---|
| Homepage | URLs that redirect (301 or 302) |
| Service, product and category pages | Broken pages (404 or 410) |
| Blog posts and guides | Pages marked noindex |
| Location and landing pages you want found | Duplicates and non-canonical versions |
| About, contact and policy pages | Cart, checkout, login, account and thank-you pages |
| Important PDFs, if you want them in search | Internal search results, sorting and filter URLs, tracking links |
Also make sure every URL matches the exact version your site uses: https not http, with or without www, with or without a trailing slash. Google says it will "crawl your URLs exactly as listed", so a mismatched version sends crawlers through a redirect every time. The Sitemap Checks flag all of these.
Lastmod, Priority and Changefreq: What Search Engines Actually Use
This is where most generators, and many older guides, get it wrong.
- Priority and changefreq are ignored. Google's documentation says: "Google ignores
<priority> and <changefreq> values." Bing said the same in July 2025: they "are ignored by Bing and do not influence how your content is crawled or ranked."
- Lastmod is used, but only if it's honest. Google uses
<lastmod> when it is "consistently and verifiably accurate". The date should mark a significant change to the main content, structured data or links, not a new copyright year or a regenerated sitemap. Bing also uses it to judge freshness, including for its AI-powered search.
That's why this generator leaves priority and changefreq out by default and takes dates per URL. If you don't know when a page last changed, leave the date out. A missing <lastmod> is better than a wrong one, because search engines learn to ignore dates that don't match reality.
How I do it on this site: the sitemap at seobysubham.com/sitemap.xml lists only the pages I want indexed, each with only <loc> and <lastmod>. No priority, no changefreq. When I moved the site to new hosting in September 2026, I resubmitted it in Search Console and updated the dates only on pages whose content actually changed.
Large Sites: 50,000 URLs and Sitemap Index Files
A single sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs and must be no larger than 50 MB uncompressed. Bigger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list those files in a sitemap index:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-1.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-09-25</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-2.xml</loc>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>
This generator does it automatically. Paste more than 50,000 URLs and you get sitemap_index.xml plus numbered sitemap files. Upload them all to the root folder and submit only the index. Even on smaller sites, splitting sitemaps by type (pages, posts, products) makes it easier to see in Search Console which sections have indexing problems.
Types of XML Sitemaps
The standard sitemap lists web pages, and it's what this generator creates. Google also supports extensions for other kinds of content:
| Type | What it lists | Who needs it |
|---|
| Page sitemap | URLs of web pages, with optional lastmod | Almost every website |
| Image sitemap | Images on each page, using the image extension | Sites whose images are loaded in ways crawlers can miss, or that depend on image search |
| Video sitemap | Videos with title, description and thumbnail | Sites that host their own videos and want them in video results |
| News sitemap | Articles published in the last two days | Publishers that appear in Google News |
| hreflang in a sitemap | Language and country versions of each page | Multilingual or multi-region sites |
Most business websites, blogs and service sites only need the standard page sitemap. Google finds most images through the pages themselves.
Where to Upload sitemap.xml on Your Platform
Put your sitemap in the root folder so it opens at https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Google recommends the root because a sitemap there can cover every page on the site. On most platforms, though, the sitemap already exists:
| Platform | Built-in sitemap | What to do |
|---|
| WordPress | /wp-sitemap.xml (core), or /sitemap_index.xml with Yoast SEO or Rank Math | Use the built-in one. Only upload your own file if you've switched the others off, so there's one source of truth |
| Shopify | /sitemap.xml | Generated automatically; you can't replace it. Submit it as it is |
| Wix | /sitemap.xml | Generated automatically. Submit it; control pages through each page's SEO settings |
| Squarespace | /sitemap.xml | Generated automatically. Submit it |
| Webflow | /sitemap.xml | Turn on auto-generation in the site's SEO settings, or paste your own sitemap there |
| Blogger | /sitemap.xml | Generated automatically. Submit it in Search Console |
| Static HTML / custom site | None | Generate it here and upload to the root folder with your host's file manager, FTP or your deploy process |
How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google and Bing
Google Search Console
- Open Google Search Console and select your property.
- Go to Indexing → Sitemaps.
- Enter the sitemap URL (for example
sitemap.xml) and click Submit.
- Come back later. The status should say Success, with a count of discovered pages.
Bing Webmaster Tools
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools and select your site. You can import it straight from Search Console.
- Go to Sitemaps, click Submit sitemap, and enter the full URL.
Bing's index also feeds Copilot and other AI search tools, and Bing says it checks submitted sitemaps "at least once per day". For instant updates, Bing also supports IndexNow, which notifies it the moment a page changes.
robots.txt
Add a Sitemap: line to your robots.txt so every crawler can find the file, including search engines you haven't submitted to. The robots.txt Line tab in the tool gives you the exact line for your domain.
No more "pinging" Google: Google retired the sitemaps ping endpoint at the end of 2023, so old instructions to visit a google.com/ping?sitemap= URL no longer work. Search Console and robots.txt are the ways to tell Google about your sitemap now.
How to Find the XML Sitemap of a Website
To find a website's XML sitemap, open its robots.txt file at domain.com/robots.txt and look for a line starting with Sitemap:. If there isn't one, try the usual locations:
/sitemap.xml (most sites, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Blogger)/sitemap_index.xml (WordPress with Yoast SEO or Rank Math)/wp-sitemap.xml (WordPress without an SEO plugin)/sitemap-index.xml or /sitemap/sitemap.xml on some custom setups
For your own site, the Sitemaps report in Search Console shows every sitemap Google knows about.
How to Open and Check an XML Sitemap URL
To open an XML sitemap, type its full URL into any browser. You'll see the raw XML, often with a note such as "This XML file does not appear to have any style information". That message is normal: sitemaps are meant for crawlers, not people, and don't need styling.
When checking a sitemap, look for:
- It loads with a 200 status, not a redirect or an error page.
- The URLs are right: correct domain, https, and the version your site actually uses.
- No junk: no redirects, 404s, noindex or duplicate pages. To check the status of each URL, run the sitemap through a crawler in list mode.
- Search Console agrees: in the Sitemaps report, the status is Success. Couldn't fetch usually means the file isn't at the URL you submitted, or it's blocked.
Can AI Create a Sitemap?
AI chatbots can write sitemap XML if you give them the list of URLs, but they aren't a good way to build one. They can't reliably see every page on your site, they sometimes invent URLs that don't exist, and they can't check which pages return errors or redirects. A long list may also come back cut short.
Use AI to help decide which sections of your site deserve to be indexed, if that helps. Build the actual file from your live URLs, with your CMS, a crawler, or this generator, which checks every line.
Common XML Sitemap Mistakes
| Mistake | Why it matters | Fix |
|---|
| Listing redirected, 404 or noindex URLs | Sends mixed signals and wastes crawling on pages you don't want indexed | List only canonical pages that return 200 OK |
| Mixed http/https or www/non-www URLs | Every mismatched URL goes through a redirect | Use the exact version your site redirects to |
| Today's date as lastmod on every page | Search engines stop trusting your dates | Use real update dates, or none |
Relative URLs such as /about/ | The protocol requires full, absolute URLs | Always include https:// and the domain |
| An old sitemap no one updates | New pages are missing and deleted pages still listed | Use your CMS sitemap, or regenerate after every change |
| Two sitemap systems at once (plugin plus a manual file) | Conflicting lists and dates | Keep one source and submit only that |
Unescaped & in URLs | Breaks the XML, so the whole file fails to parse | Let the generator escape special characters |
A Sitemap Is One Part of Getting Indexed
A sitemap helps search engines find your pages. Whether they index and rank them depends on the pages themselves and on your site's authority. If pages sit in "Discovered – currently not indexed" in Search Console for a long time, the sitemap has done its job; the next step is stronger internal linking and links from other websites.
Check that your SEO titles and meta descriptions are working, and that your titles fit before Google cuts them off. Read what link building is and how it builds the authority that gets pages crawled more often.
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