Free XML Sitemap Generator

How It Works

Generate a valid sitemap in three simple steps

1

Paste Your URLs

Enter your website URLs, one per line. The tool handles up to 50,000 URLs.

2

Customize Settings

Set default priority, change frequency, and whether to include last modified dates.

3

Download & Submit

Download your sitemap.xml and submit it to Google Search Console.

Features

URL Validation

Automatically validates URL format and removes invalid entries

Duplicate Removal

Detects and removes duplicate URLs automatically

HTTPS Detection

Warns about non-HTTPS URLs for security awareness

Customizable Tags

Set priority, changefreq, and lastmod for all URLs

Valid XML Output

Generates properly formatted XML with correct namespace

Up to 50,000 URLs

Supports the maximum URLs allowed per sitemap

How Google reads a sitemap.xml

A sitemap.xml is a discovery aid, not a ranking signal. Google reads the file to find URLs it might otherwise miss (deep pages, orphaned pages, brand-new pages) and to prioritize its crawl budget. The sitemap does not tell Google which pages are important, only which pages exist.

When Googlebot fetches a sitemap:

URL discovery. Every <loc> entry is added to Google's crawl queue if it is not already known.
Last-modified check. If <lastmod> is present and trustworthy, Google uses it to decide whether to recrawl a page sooner. Google has publicly stated it ignores <priority> and <changefreq> (source: Google Search Central, Sitemaps overview).
Canonicalization. Google matches sitemap URLs against its known canonical for each page. If your sitemap lists a non-canonical URL, it is a weak signal that the sitemap URL is the intended canonical.
Coverage reporting. Every URL in the sitemap appears in Google Search Console's Coverage report as "Discovered" or "Excluded" with a reason — this is the single best debugging tool for indexation issues.

Bottom line: submit a sitemap for discovery and coverage debugging. Do not expect it to boost rankings on its own.

Sitemap size limits and how to split

The sitemaps.org protocol sets two hard limits per file:

50,000 URLs per sitemap file.
50 MB uncompressed per sitemap file (was 10 MB before 2016).

Whichever limit you hit first is the ceiling. A site with 500,000 URLs cannot use a single sitemap — it needs to split into multiple files.

Sitemap index file

When you have more than one sitemap, you create a sitemap index file that lists each child sitemap. The index itself is limited to 50,000 sitemaps and 50 MB — meaning a single index can reference up to 2.5 billion URLs.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-posts.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-07-11</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-07-11</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Practical splitting patterns

By content type — one sitemap per section (posts, products, categories, users). Easiest to debug when a section stops indexing.
By date — one sitemap per year or month. Useful for news sites; makes Google recrawl only fresh files.
By numeric range — sitemap-1.xml covers URL IDs 1-50,000, sitemap-2.xml covers 50,001-100,000, etc. Simple, mechanical.

If your sitemap exceeds 50 MB before hitting 50,000 URLs, gzip it (sitemap.xml.gz). Google and Bing both accept gzipped sitemaps.

sitemap.xml vs robots.txt vs llms.txt

Three files sit at the root of most sites. They do different jobs.

File	Tells crawlers	Read by
`sitemap.xml`	Which URLs exist and when they last changed	Google, Bing, Yandex, most SEO crawlers
`robots.txt`	Which URLs crawlers must NOT fetch (allow/disallow rules) and where to find the sitemap	Every well-behaved crawler, including LLM crawlers
`llms.txt`	A curated summary of your site's content for large language models	Emerging — no major LLM has confirmed production use yet

Practical setup:

Publish sitemap.xml (or a sitemap index) at your site root.
Add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt pointing at the sitemap URL. This is how most crawlers discover it before you submit anywhere.
Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for coverage reporting.
Optionally publish llms.txt for LLM discoverability — but treat it as experimental, not a replacement for a sitemap.

Do not use robots.txt to hide pages from Google's index. A blocked page can still be indexed by URL alone if it is linked from elsewhere. Use <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> on the page itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important URLs on your website in a format that search engines can easily read. It helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

How do I submit my sitemap to Google?

Upload the sitemap.xml file to your website's root directory (e.g., example.com/sitemap.xml), then submit it through Google Search Console under "Sitemaps". You can also add it to your robots.txt file.

What are priority and changefreq?

Priority (0.0-1.0) hints at the relative importance of pages on your site. Changefreq indicates how often a page is likely to change. Note: Google has stated they largely ignore these values, but other search engines may use them.

Why is the 50,000 URL limit important?

The sitemap protocol specifies a maximum of 50,000 URLs per sitemap file. If you have more URLs, you'll need to split them across multiple sitemap files and use a sitemap index.

Should I include all pages in my sitemap?

Include all pages you want search engines to index. Exclude pages like login pages, admin areas, duplicate content, and pages blocked by robots.txt. Focus on your canonical, important pages.

How do I create a sitemap for my website?

Collect the URLs you want indexed, paste them into the generator above (one per line), pick a default priority and change frequency if you want them included, and click Generate Sitemap. Download the resulting sitemap.xml file, upload it to your site root (example.com/sitemap.xml), and submit it in Google Search Console.

What is the difference between sitemap.xml and a sitemap index?

A sitemap.xml file lists up to 50,000 URLs directly. A sitemap index file lists other sitemap files, letting you split large sites across multiple sitemaps (up to 50,000 sitemaps per index). Google reads both formats — use an index when you exceed the 50,000 URL or 50 MB per-file limit.

Does Google use the priority and changefreq tags?

No. Google has publicly confirmed it ignores both priority and changefreq when crawling. It uses only the URL, lastmod when trustworthy, and its own signals to decide crawl frequency. Other search engines like Bing and Yandex may still honor these tags, so including them is harmless.

Do I need a sitemap if my site is small?

Not strictly. Google can crawl a well-linked small site (under 500 pages) without one. But a sitemap is still worth having because it feeds the Google Search Console Coverage report, which is the fastest way to spot indexation problems. It costs nothing to generate.

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