account_tree XML Sitemap Generator star

How It Works

An XML sitemap follows the sitemaps.org protocol: a single <urlset> root element wraps one <url> block per page. Inside each block, <loc> — the page's full URL — is the only required field; <lastmod> (last modified date), <changefreq> (an estimate like daily/weekly/monthly) and <priority> (a relative 0.0-1.0 value) are all optional hints, not commands crawlers must obey. This tool takes one URL per line, lets you set those optional fields, and outputs a validated, ready-to-upload sitemap.xml.

Concrete example: paste 40 blog URLs, mark the 3 published this week as changefreq=weekly / priority=0.8 and the rest as monthly / 0.5, and the generator writes a complete file — upload it to your site root (https://example.com/sitemap.xml) and reference it in robots.txt and Google Search Console.

Beyond the basic urlset format, the protocol has specialized siblings: image and video sitemaps use extra namespaced tags to give crawlers metadata a plain URL list can't carry, and news sitemaps exist for time-sensitive publishing. None of that changes the core rule, though — a sitemap only helps if crawlers can actually reach the pages it lists. Blocking a URL in robots.txt while still listing it in the sitemap sends a contradictory signal: most crawlers respect the robots.txt disallow and skip the page regardless of the sitemap entry. Once the file is live, point crawlers to it explicitly with a Sitemap: line in robots.txt (for example Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml) — this works independently of, and in addition to, submitting it through Search Console.

Things to Know

• The protocol caps a single sitemap file at 50,000 URLs and 50MB. Cross that line and you need multiple sitemap files tied together by a sitemap index file — a top-level file that just lists the other sitemap files' locations.
• Google largely ignores changefreq and priority today; lastmod is the one field it actually trusts, and only when it's accurate — a lastmod that never changes teaches crawlers to stop believing it.
• A sitemap is an invitation, not a guarantee: listing a URL doesn't force indexing, it just makes discovery easier, especially for pages with few internal links.
• List only canonical, 200-status, indexable URLs — redirects, 404s and noindex pages in a sitemap dilute the signal rather than help it.
• A sitemap complements robots.txt, it doesn't override it — a page blocked from crawling stays blocked even if its URL sits in the sitemap file.
• Large, frequently updated sites benefit from generating the sitemap dynamically via script (as this site does for its own pages) rather than hand-maintaining a static file that quietly falls out of date.