web dev//SEO//sitemap

A sitemap is an XML file (`/sitemap.xml`) that lists every URL on a site that should be indexed, with optional metadata (last modified date, change frequency, priority). It is a discovery signal, never a ranking signal: being in the sitemap does not guarantee indexing, it only guarantees that the crawler knows the URL exists.

A sitemap is an XML file (/sitemap.xml) that lists every URL on a site that should be indexed, with optional metadata (last modified date, change frequency, priority). It is a discovery signal, never a ranking signal: being in the sitemap does not guarantee indexing, it only guarantees that the crawler knows the URL exists.

Crawlers find it when it is referenced from robots.txt (Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml), submitted through Google Search Console, or both.

It matters most for SPAs and JS-heavy sites, where crawlers cannot discover pages by following links because there are no server-rendered links to follow.

One file holds at most 50,000 URLs or 50 MB; larger sites split it with a sitemap index file.

It feeds discovery directly; what changed recently is the job of the feed.

The sitemap is the building's index of rooms.

Even if you cannot see a door from the hallway, these rooms exist.

Advice26 · mar 08Read noteAuto-generate it at build time so it stays in sync with the actual content. Manual sitemaps go stale.