Help search engines crawl your site smarter. Learn what an XML sitemap is, how to create one, and why it’s essential for SEO and site visibility.
XML sitemaps may sound technical, but they’re very simple, often auto-generated within content management systems (CMS), and essential for achieving SEO success.
Without a sitemap, you’re relying entirely on internal linking to get your pages indexed. While this isn’t the worst thing, having a sitemap is best practice because you give search engines a complete list of URLs that you want indexed. Plus, you can submit your sitemap to search engines and get crawlers on your site with the click of a button.
In this article, we cover what an XML sitemap is, examples of what it looks like, pages and elements to include in your sitemap, and why the XML format is preferred.
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the URLs on a website, formatted using Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Think of it as an official document for search engines; a complete table of contents that outlines every indexable URL on your site.
Search engine crawlers, like Google, use sitemaps to understand which pages on your website you want to be indexed. In fact, you should upload your sitemap to Google Search Console once it’s ready.
Although search engines can still index pages on your site without a sitemap, because crawlers discover pages through internal linking, your sitemap is still a crucial part of optimization.
Including an XML sitemap can help improve crawl efficiency because it ensures Google can access every link from at least one place. A sitemap is not a replacement for internal linking.
What does an XML sitemap look like?
At a minimum, a sitemap has the following elements:
<urlset>: the root element that wraps all individual URLs. It must include the XML namespace:xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9". The namespace acts as a label that tells search engines what the file is and how to interpret it.<url>: a container for each page on your site. Every page on your site that you want indexed should sit within the URL tag.<loc>: short for “location,” this tag specifies the full, canonical URL of the page. The <loc> tells search engines exactly where to find the page. The URL must be fully qualified—starting with https:// or http://—and should point to the version of the page that you want indexed and not an alternative URL like a canonical.
These are the elements that make up an XML sitemap in its simplest format. Here’s what a simple XML sitemap looks like:
Pro tip: You can typically find sitemaps on one of two URL paths: /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml. Type in any website with these URL paths and you’ll probably find their sitemap. Give it a go! Here’s Search Engine Land’s Sitemap URL: https://searchengineland.com/sitemap.xml
As mentioned above, <loc>
is the only required value within a sitemap. It makes sense; you need
the location of the page (the URL) to be present for Google to find it.
Optional, but commonly used elements include:
<lastmod><priority><changefreq>
Important note: Google commonly ignores <priority> and <changefreq>, but in the interest of covering what an XML sitemap is in full, we’ll share what these elements are in the section below.
Here’s an example of Search Engine Land’s sitemap with the <lastmod> element:
As well as the addition of “Last Mod,” this sitemap has more style and formatting (i.e. the table and alternative colors) than the example above. This is a sitemap generated by Yoast, a WordPress SEO plugin that makes sitemap generation easy. Its functionality automatically adds links to the sitemap as you create new pages.
Here’s what Rank Math, another WordPress plugin and alternative to Yoast, generates:
You don’t have to add styling to your sitemap. As long as it’s functional with the three required elements correctly executed (<urlset>, <url>, and <loc>), the sitemap is fine. Adding <lastmod> is best practice. Let’s take a deeper look at what <lastmod> is and why it matters.
What is <lastmod> and why does it matter?
<lastmod> stands for Last Modified. It indicates the date someone last edited the page.
<lastmod>
matters because it helps search engines prioritize recrawling updated
content. The value should follow the YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g.,
2025-07-28). Adding this tag is especially useful for content that
changes frequently, like news articles or product pages.
Google is clear that it uses <lastmod>; here’s what it says in its guidelines:
Google uses the <lastmod> value if it’s consistently and verifiably (for example by comparing to the last modification of the page) accurate.
The <lastmod> value should reflect the date and time of the last significant update to the page. For example, an update to the main content, the structured data, or links on the page is generally considered significant, however an update to the copyright date is not.
What is <priority> and does it matter?
<priority> indicates the relative importance of a page on your site, with values ranging from 0.0 to 1.0.
For example, your homepage might be 1.0 while a low-traffic archive page might be 0.3.
Theoretically, this tag helps give crawlers a sense of what content matters most, but Google has been clear that it ignores this value.
Since Google does not use <priority> and you don’t need it to create a valid sitemap, it seems fair to say that <priority> does not matter if you’re most interested in traffic coming from Google search results pages (SERPs).
That said, people search from a range of search engines, and Google
is the only one that’s been explicit about whether or not it uses <priority>.
There’s a chance that other search engines do use it to help determine
what to crawl and how often, so if you want to add prioritization to
your most important pages, you can.
What is <changefreq> and does it matter?
<changefreq>,
short for “change frequency,” indicates how often the content on a page
is likely to be modified or updated (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
Theoretically, this tag gives crawlers a hint about which pages are regularly updated and which are more static. That said, both Google and Bing have expressed distrust for this tag since it’s not always consistently or accurately used.
Similarly to <priority>, it’s not likely that <changefreq>
will impact SERP rankings, at least not directly. The benefits will
likely be hard (maybe even impossible) to spot, so adding additional
tags is up to you. If it brings peace of mind, go for it! These
additional tags certainly won’t cause any harm.
Often, the SEO strategies that endure the test of time focus on being complete and providing the best site experience, and so you should focus on best practices versus chasing the winds of Google.
Why would you choose to use an XML sitemap over the other types?
From a technical SEO perspective, there are three main types of sitemaps:
- XML sitemaps: These are the most common format and are used across most websites.
- RSS, mRSS, and Atom 1.0 feeds: These are typically used for content that changes frequently, like blogs or news sites.
- Text sitemaps: These are the simplest format and contain a plain list of URLs, one per line.
There are also HTML sitemaps. These are web pages that list and link to key pages on a website, typically organized in a clear, hierarchical structure for easy navigation.Unlike an XML sitemap, which is built for search engines, an HTML sitemap is designed for human visitors. It often groups pages by category or section, helping users discover related content they might not have found through menus or search. This can improve user experience, reduce bounce rates, and indirectly support SEO by ensuring important pages are easily accessible.
When to use XML sitemaps:
Most websites choose XML sitemaps because they’re so versatile. They’re suitable for websites of any size: those with large page counts, frequent updates, or complex architecture.
All major search engines support XML sitemaps, which means your site’s contents will be effectively communicated to search engines. And, if you can communicate effectively with search engines, then you’ve got the best chance of your pages getting indexed and ranking well within SERPs.
Plus, XML sitemaps are so easy to generate; most CMS platforms automate it.
And if that’s not enough…
XML sitemaps are the most comprehensive option; with additional data like <lastmod>, you have the most control over how crawlers understand and navigate your website structure.
Further reading: Ready to set up your XML sitemap? Read our comprehensive guide on XML sitemap best practices.
When to use RSS, mRSS, and Atom 1.0 feeds
RSS, mRSS, and Atom 1.0 feeds can be useful when publishing frequent, time-sensitive content, such as blog posts, podcasts, or videos. These feeds are often automatically generated by your CMS, making them easy to implement with minimal effort.
They’re great for quickly notifying search engines of new content, especially for platforms with regular updates. mRSS, in particular, can help Google discover and index video content.
However, they aren’t designed for full-site coverage or detailed crawl guidance. These formats don’t support the additional information needed for images, news-specific data, or metadata like page priority. These feeds are best used as a complement to a full XML sitemap.
When to use text sitemaps
The ease of setting up of text sitemaps makes them tempting for small, simple websites or projects where speed and ease of setup matter more than SEO. For example, a brochure website that will not rely on SEO as a source of traffic.
They’re incredibly lightweight—just a plain list of website URLs—and can be created and maintained with nothing more than a text editor.
If you have a very small website that will rarely, or never, change, the text sitemap is an option. However, if you’re using a CMS like WordPress, it is worth learning more about the XML sitemap and setting up the XML sitemap so that it can be automated. There’s a section in our guide on creating sitemaps that will help you.
Text sitemaps are suitable if you only want text pages indexed, as they don’t support metadata such as last-modified dates and image/video information.
What pages should you include in an XML sitemap?
Remember: your XML sitemap is like a table of contents of all the pages you want indexed by Googlebot or other crawlers.
Include every URL that you’d like to see indexed within search engines. This includes:
- Your homepage
- Landing pages
- Blogs
- Product pages
- Product category pages
All of the above pages are added to sitemaps when they add value to your users. For example, a new blog post adds value because it solves a problem or answers a question that your audiences are looking for.
You don’t need to include any URLs that you do not want indexed.
This might include:
- Admin or login pages
- Blog tags (unless you’ve decided they’re better indexed for you)
- Pages that are not designed to add value to search engines (a page created for sales teams to email prospects, for example); often you’ll know these as pages you’ve tagged as noindex
The above pages don’t add value to your audience via search engines. The blog tag, for example, is likely just a list of blogs with little to no content. The page likely wouldn’t rank, so you don’t need it in your sitemap since it doesn’t need to be crawled by search engines.
Important note: there are no definitive rules for what ends up in your sitemap. If you want your tag pages optimized and add SEO value to them, then you might choose to include them. It all depends on your unique strategy.
Create your XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is so simple. While it may sound a bit technical, anyone can set up a sitemap on a website. If you don’t already have a sitemap, you should set it up as soon as possible.
Use a free sitemap checking tool like XML sitemap checker to see if you already have a sitemap. If you do, check that it complies with best practices by reading our guide to sitemaps. Within the guide to sitemaps article, you can find out how to submit your sitemap to Google, which is an essential step for SEO success.
If you need to generate a new sitemap and are still unclear how to start, here’s some further reading that can get you going: The Best Sitemap Generator Tools to Use.
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