XML Sitemap Generator
Turn a list of page addresses into a valid sitemap.xml, with duplicates removed, special characters escaped and the robots.txt line ready to copy.
Build your XML sitemap
Paste the pages you want search engines to find. The file is built in your browser and nothing you enter is saved.
What belongs in a sitemap, and what does not
| Include | Leave out |
|---|---|
| Pages that return a normal 200 response | Redirected, 404 and server-error URLs |
| The canonical version of each page | Duplicates, parameter and tracking versions, pages whose canonical points elsewhere |
| Pages you want to appear in search | Pages with a noindex tag, login pages, cart and checkout, internal search results |
| One consistent version of the address (https, your preferred www or non-www) | A mix of http and https, or www and non-www |
| Service pages, location pages, key articles, contact and about pages | Thin tag, archive and attachment pages |
Before you upload the file
- Every URL in the list opens normally in a browser, with no redirect or error.
- The addresses use the same version (https and www or not) that your site redirects to.
- You left out pages that are blocked in robots.txt or marked noindex.
- You did not use the current date as lastmod unless every page really changed today.
- The file is going into your site root, not a subfolder, so it can list the whole site.
What a good result should show
A site address and a list such as /services/, /service-areas/austin/ and /contact/, or full URLs. Press Load sample list to try a made-up plumbing site.
A summary of how many URLs were included and how many duplicates removed, a list of anything to review, the XML with a copy button and a download button, and the exact Sitemap: line for your robots.txt.
A sitemap helps discovery. It does not improve rankings.
A sitemap tells search engines which URLs you consider important. Google treats it as a hint, and listing a page does not guarantee it will be crawled or indexed. This tool builds the file from the list you give it and does not verify that your pages are healthy.
How the file is built
- Read your list. Each line is checked. Relative paths are joined to your site address, hosts are lower-cased, default ports and #fragments are removed, and non-English characters are encoded as the sitemap format requires.
- Remove repeats and flag conflicts. Exact duplicates are dropped. Mixed hosts, mixed http and https, and the same page listed with and without a trailing slash are reported so you can decide.
- Apply your options. By default only the address is written. lastmod, changefreq and priority are added only if you choose them.
- Escape and write the XML. Characters such as & are escaped so the file stays valid. The elements are written in the order the protocol expects.
- Split when needed. If the list passes 50,000 URLs, or a file would pass 50 MB, it is divided into numbered files with a sitemap index that points to them.
The optional tags
| Tag | What Google does with it |
|---|---|
| loc | Required. The full address of the page. |
| lastmod | Used only if your dates are consistently accurate, for example matching the real last change to the page. Wrong or always-today dates teach Google to ignore them. |
| changefreq | Ignored by Google. |
| priority | Ignored by Google. It only compared pages within your own site and never affected rankings. |
That is why the tool leaves everything except the address off by default. Other search engines may read these tags, so they stay available under More options.
Limits worth knowing
- The tool trusts your list. It does not request the URLs, so it cannot catch broken, redirected, blocked or noindex pages.
- "Find links" reads a single page, so pages not linked from it will be missing. It also needs the DigitalBaloch PHP service, which is not available in a static preview.
- It writes standard URL sitemaps only. Image, video, news and hreflang extensions are not supported.
- Sitemap files are plain XML. Compressing them to .gz is optional and not done here.
- A sitemap placed in a subfolder can only list URLs in that folder and below, unless it is submitted in Search Console.
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Open tool →XML Sitemap Generator questions
Do I need an XML sitemap?
A small, well-linked site can be found without one, but a sitemap helps search engines discover pages faster and gives you sitemap reports in Google Search Console. It is cheap insurance for service sites with many location or service pages.
Does a sitemap improve my rankings?
No. It helps search engines find your pages and does not make them rank higher. Google treats it as a hint, not an instruction.
Should I fill in lastmod, changefreq and priority?
Google says it ignores changefreq and priority, and uses lastmod only when it is consistently accurate. If you cannot keep lastmod accurate, leave it out. The tool does not add any of them unless you choose to.
How many URLs can one sitemap hold?
Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. This tool splits larger lists into numbered files with an index file, and tells you the address the index needs.
Where do I put the sitemap file?
In your site root, so it opens at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. A sitemap can only list URLs in its own folder and below, unless you submit it through Search Console. On WordPress you may need to upload it with your host's file manager or an SFTP tool.
How do I submit it to Google?
Add a Sitemap line to your robots.txt, then submit the sitemap address in Google Search Console under Indexing, then Sitemaps. The report shows when Google last read it and any errors.
Why were some of my lines skipped?
Sitemaps need complete addresses starting with http:// or https://. Lines with a missing protocol, a space, a login or an unsupported scheme are skipped, and each skipped line is listed with the reason.
Does this tool crawl my site?
No. It builds the file from the list you give it. The optional Find links button reads one page and does not follow links further. For a full-site list, export it from your CMS or a crawler, then paste it here.
Is my list stored anywhere?
No. The sitemap is built in your browser. Only the optional Find links feature sends one page address to the DigitalBaloch service, which fetches that page and stores nothing.
Turn this report into a fix plan.
Our Local SEO team can review your results, fix the issues that matter and track the calls and enquiries that follow.