XML Sitemaps Explained
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of important URLs on your website. It can help search engines discover pages, especially on larger or frequently changing sites.
What belongs in a sitemap?
Include important, indexable, canonical pages that you want search engines to discover. A sitemap should represent the pages you consider valuable, not every URL your system can generate.
- Include pages that return a successful response.
- Exclude private, blocked, redirected, and duplicate URLs.
- Keep the sitemap updated when important pages are added or removed.
A sitemap does not guarantee indexing
Submitting a URL in a sitemap is a discovery signal. It does not guarantee that a search engine will crawl, index, rank, or display the page.
- Make sure sitemap URLs are accessible to crawlers.
- Use consistent canonical URLs.
- Support important pages with internal links and useful content.
Keep the file clean
A clean sitemap helps search engines understand which pages matter to you. Remove old URLs, broken URLs, and pages that are not intended to appear in search.
- Check the sitemap for 404 and redirecting URLs.
- Use your production domain consistently.
- Reference the sitemap from robots.txt when appropriate.