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Technical SEO

XML Sitemap

A file listing important URLs to help search engines discover and crawl content.

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What is XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a structured file that lists the URLs on your website you want search engines to crawl and index. It includes metadata like last modification date, change frequency, and priority.

Example

<?xml version="1.0"?> <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <url> <loc>https://example.com/page</loc> <lastmod>2026-01-15</lastmod> </url> </urlset>

How to apply it

Include only indexable pages, keep under 50MB or 50,000 URLs, update lastmod only when content changes, submit to GSC, and split large sitemaps.

Tip:Monitor 'Sitemap' report in GSC. If submitted URLs don't match indexed URLs, investigate why pages are being excluded.

Track it in GSC Boost

GSC Boost reads your Search Console data and tells you what to fix first, with the clicks each fix is likely to bring. Start with the guide or sign up free.

Related terms

CrawlingThe process by which search engine bots discover and read web pages.IndexingThe process of storing and organizing crawled pages in search engine databases.Robots.txtA file that instructs search engine crawlers which pages to crawl or avoid.

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