XML Sitemap Generator - Create SEO Sitemap Free

How This Tool Works

Our sitemap generator creates XML sitemaps that conform to the sitemaps.org protocol specification. When you enter URLs, the tool processes each one and wraps it in the required XML structure with <url>, <loc>, <lastmod>, <changefreq>, and <priority> elements. The generator properly escapes special characters (like &, <, >) using XML entities to ensure the output is valid, parsable XML that search engines can read without errors.

The tool applies your chosen defaults (change frequency, priority, modification date) to all URLs uniformly, constructing the complete XML document with the proper namespace declaration and structure. The current date is captured using JavaScript's Date object and formatted in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD), which is the required format for the <lastmod> element in XML sitemaps.

All XML generation happens instantly in your browser. The tool doesn't validate whether URLs actually exist, check for duplicate entries, or crawl your site—it simply converts your URL list into properly formatted XML, ready to upload and submit to search engines.

Why Use This Tool

XML sitemaps are fundamental to SEO, helping search engines discover and index your content efficiently. Our generator makes sitemap creation accessible to everyone:

• Instant indexing help: Speed up how quickly search engines discover new pages, especially important for new sites or fresh content
• No technical expertise required: Create valid XML without understanding XML syntax or wrestling with manual formatting
• Perfect for small sites: Quickly generate sitemaps for sites with dozens or hundreds of pages without installing CMS plugins or sitemap generators
• Complete control: Manually set priorities and change frequencies to emphasize your most important pages
• Free and unlimited: Generate as many sitemaps as needed without subscriptions, account creation, or usage restrictions

While large sites benefit from automated sitemap generation through CMS plugins or static site generators, this tool is perfect for small to medium websites, static HTML sites, or situations where you need a quick sitemap without modifying your build process.

How to Use the XML Sitemap Generator

Creating an XML sitemap helps search engines discover and index your website's pages more efficiently. Follow these steps:

1. Enter URLs: Add all the URLs you want in your sitemap, one per line.
2. Set Change Frequency: Select how often your pages typically update.
3. Set Priority: Choose the default priority for your pages (0.0-1.0).
4. Generate: Click "Generate Sitemap" to create your XML sitemap.
5. Download: Download the sitemap.xml file or copy the XML.
6. Upload: Upload sitemap.xml to your website's root directory.
7. Submit: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Understanding Sitemap Elements

XML sitemaps contain important metadata about your pages:

• <loc>: The URL of the page (required)
• <lastmod>: Date of last modification (optional but recommended)
• <changefreq>: How frequently the page changes (optional)
• <priority>: Priority relative to other pages on your site (optional, 0.0-1.0)

Best Practices for Sitemaps

Follow these guidelines for optimal sitemap effectiveness:

• Include Important Pages: Add all pages you want indexed
• Use Absolute URLs: Always use full URLs with protocol (https://)
• Keep Updated: Update your sitemap when content changes
• Set Realistic Frequencies: Don't claim pages update hourly if they don't
• Homepage Priority: Usually set homepage to 1.0 priority
• Valid URLs: Only include publicly accessible URLs
• Submit to Search Engines: Register sitemap in Search Console

Common Use Cases

• New Websites: Help search engines discover all your pages quickly
• Large Sites: Ensure deep pages get crawled and indexed
• Dynamic Content: Notify search engines of frequently updated pages
• Media-Rich Sites: Include pages with images, videos, or downloads
• Blogs: Help search engines find new articles and posts
• E-commerce: Ensure product pages are discoverable

Setting Priority Values

Use priority to indicate the relative importance of pages:

• 1.0: Homepage and most important pages
• 0.8: Major category pages and key content
• 0.6: Subcategory pages and important articles
• 0.4-0.5: Regular content pages
• 0.1-0.3: Less important pages, tags, archives

Change Frequency Guidelines

• Always: Pages that change every time they're accessed (rare)
• Hourly: Real-time content, news sites, live feeds
• Daily: Frequently updated blogs, news sections
• Weekly: Regular content updates, blog posts
• Monthly: Occasionally updated pages
• Yearly: Static pages that rarely change
• Never: Archived content, historical pages

After Creating Your Sitemap

Once you've generated your sitemap:

1. Upload sitemap.xml to your website root directory
2. Add sitemap reference to robots.txt: "Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml"
3. Submit to Google Search Console
4. Submit to Bing Webmaster Tools
5. Monitor indexing status in search console
6. Update sitemap regularly as content changes

Sitemap Limitations

Be aware of these restrictions:

• Maximum 50,000 URLs per sitemap file
• Maximum 50MB file size (uncompressed)
• Can compress as .gz to reduce size
• Use sitemap index file for multiple sitemaps
• All URLs must be from the same domain

Limitations & Things to Know

Get the best results by understanding these sitemap constraints and tool limitations:

• 50,000 URL limit: XML sitemaps can contain maximum 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50MB. For larger sites, you'll need to create multiple sitemaps and use a sitemap index file.
• No automatic discovery: This tool doesn't crawl your website. You must manually provide every URL you want included—there's no automatic page discovery.
• Static defaults: All URLs receive the same change frequency and priority. For granular control, you'd need to edit the XML manually or use dynamic sitemap generation.
• No URL validation: The tool doesn't check if URLs are valid, accessible, or return 200 status codes. It will include broken links if you provide them.
• Priority is relative: Priority values (0.0-1.0) indicate importance relative to other pages on your site, not absolute importance in search engines. They're hints, not directives.
• Change frequency is advisory: Search engines use changefreq as a suggestion, not a command. They may crawl pages more or less frequently based on their own observations.