SEOHigh
Create and submit an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is available at /sitemap.xml and includes all important pages.
Utilities
Quick take
Typical fix time 15 min- XML sitemaps help search engines discover all your pages
- Include priority and lastmod for important pages
- Submit to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
- Reference sitemap in robots.txt
Why it matters: Search engines may not discover all your pages through links alone—a sitemap ensures every important page gets indexed, especially for large or newly launched sites.
Rule Details
XML sitemaps help search engines discover and index all your pages.
Code 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>2024-01-15</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-10</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>Why It Matters
Search engines may not discover all your pages through links alone—a sitemap ensures every important page gets indexed, especially for large or newly launched sites.
Sitemap Elements
| Element | Purpose | Required |
|---|---|---|
loc | Full URL of the page | Yes |
lastmod | Last modification date | Recommended |
changefreq | Update frequency hint | Optional |
priority | Relative importance (0.0-1.0) | Optional |
Next.js Dynamic Sitemap
// app/sitemap.ts
import { MetadataRoute } from 'next'
export default async function sitemap(): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
const baseUrl = 'https://example.com'
// Static pages
const staticPages = [
'',
'/about',
'/contact',
'/pricing',
].map(route => ({
url: `${baseUrl}${route}`,
lastModified: new Date(),
changeFrequency: 'monthly' as const,
priority: route === '' ? 1.0 : 0.8,
}))
// Dynamic pages from database
const products = await getProducts()
const productPages = products.map(product => ({
url: `${baseUrl}/products/${product.slug}`,
lastModified: product.updatedAt,
changeFrequency: 'weekly' as const,
priority: 0.7,
}))
// Blog posts
const posts = await getPosts()
const blogPages = posts.map(post => ({
url: `${baseUrl}/blog/${post.slug}`,
lastModified: post.updatedAt,
changeFrequency: 'monthly' as const,
priority: 0.6,
}))
return [...staticPages, ...productPages, ...blogPages]
}Large Sites: Sitemap Index
<?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>
<lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-14</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-13</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>// app/sitemap.ts - Multiple sitemaps
import { MetadataRoute } from 'next'
export async function generateSitemaps() {
const productCount = await getProductCount()
const numSitemaps = Math.ceil(productCount / 50000)
return Array.from({ length: numSitemaps }, (_, i) => ({ id: i }))
}
export default async function sitemap({
id,
}: {
id: number
}): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
const start = id * 50000
const products = await getProducts({ start, limit: 50000 })
return products.map(product => ({
url: `https://example.com/products/${product.slug}`,
lastModified: product.updatedAt,
}))
}Priority Guidelines
| Page Type | Suggested Priority |
|---|---|
| Homepage | 1.0 |
| Main category pages | 0.8-0.9 |
| Product/service pages | 0.7-0.8 |
| Blog posts | 0.5-0.7 |
| Legal pages | 0.3-0.5 |
| Archive/tag pages | 0.3-0.4 |
Reference in robots.txt
User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xmlImage Sitemap Extension
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/products/widget</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://example.com/images/widget.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>Widget Product Photo</image:title>
</image:image>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://example.com/images/widget-side.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>Widget Side View</image:title>
</image:image>
</url>
</urlset>Submit to Search Engines
# Google Search Console
# 1. Go to https://search.google.com/search-console
# 2. Select property
# 3. Sitemaps → Add new sitemap
# 4. Enter: sitemap.xml
# Bing Webmaster Tools
# 1. Go to https://www.bing.com/webmasters
# 2. Submit sitemap URL
# Programmatic submission (ping)
curl "https://www.google.com/ping?sitemap=https://example.com/sitemap.xml"
curl "https://www.bing.com/ping?sitemap=https://example.com/sitemap.xml"What NOT to Include
| Exclude | Reason |
|---|---|
| Noindex pages | Won't be indexed anyway |
| Duplicate content | May cause issues |
| 404/error pages | Bad user experience |
| Login-required pages | Can't be indexed |
| Parameter variations | Use canonical URLs |
Exceptions
- Staging, utility, login, account, or internal search pages may intentionally use different crawl or index signals if they are not meant to rank.
- Temporary migration states can produce noisy intermediate signals; flag the live production URL pattern, not one-off transition artifacts.
- When redirects, canonicals, robots directives, or indexability signals conflict, fix the strongest final signal first instead of reporting every downstream symptom as a separate blocker.
Verification
Automated Checks
- Validate XML format with online validators
- Check Google Search Console sitemap status
Manual Checks
- Access sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
- Verify all important pages are included
- Ensure URLs match canonical-url versions
Use with AI
Copy these prompts to use with your AI assistant, or install the MCP server to use directly from Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf.
Check
Verify implementation
Verify that this website has a valid XML sitemap accessible at /sitemap.xml and that it's properly formatted.
Fix
Auto-fix issues
Generate or update the XML sitemap for this website including all important pages with proper priority and changefreq values.
Explain
Learn more
Explain how XML sitemaps help search engines discover and index website pages more efficiently.
Review
Code review
Review metadata generation, rendered HTML, structured data, and response headers related to Create and submit an XML sitemap. Flag exact routes or templates where search-facing output violates the rule, and describe how to verify the final page output.