HostedSiteDemoSitemap format
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-11-04</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>What to include
- Include the canonical, indexable version of every page you want in search: full absolute URLs with https and your preferred host.
- Leave out redirects, pages with noindex, duplicates with tracking parameters, login and cart pages, and anything blocked in robots.txt.
- Keep it current. Most CMSs (WordPress, Shopify, Astro, Next.js) can generate the sitemap automatically; use this tool for static sites or a one-off list.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a sitemap?
Small, well-linked sites can be found without one, but a sitemap helps search engines discover new and deep pages faster and is required for some features in Search Console reports. It costs nothing to add.
Do changefreq and priority matter?
Google ignores both. It does use lastmod, but only if the date is accurate: set it to when the page’s main content last changed, not to today on every page.
How many URLs can a sitemap have?
Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Larger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index file.
How do I tell Google about my sitemap?
Upload it to your site (usually /sitemap.xml), add a Sitemap: line to your robots.txt, and submit the URL in Google Search Console under Indexing → Sitemaps. Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools.