SEO Term Definition

Sitemap

A sitemap is a file (usually XML) that lists a website's pages to help search engines discover and crawl them. Submit it to Google via Search Console.

Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-06-22

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is a file providing information about pages, videos, and other files on your site and their relationships. Search engines read it to crawl your site more efficiently.

XML Format

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/seo-glossary</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-15</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

Best Practices

Only include canonical, indexable URLs — no noindex or redirected pages
Limit: 50,000 URLs and 50MB; use a sitemap index for larger sites
Submit to Google Search Console → Sitemaps
Reference in robots.txt: Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Update automatically when pages are added or removed

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