How to use the XML Sitemap Generator
- Export the list of pages you want indexed from your CMS, Google Search Console or a site crawler.
- Paste the URLs into the box, one per line. Full addresses starting with https:// are required.
- Optionally add a lastmod date, and changefreq or priority values if another search engine you target uses them.
- Click Generate sitemap, review the counts and warnings, then download the file (or a ZIP for very large sites).
- Upload sitemap.xml to your site root, add a Sitemap line to robots.txt and submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Features
- Validates every line and explains why bad lines were skipped
- Removes duplicates and #fragments, and percent-encodes spaces and accents
- Optional lastmod, changefreq and priority (fixed or by URL depth)
- Splits lists over 50,000 URLs or 50 MB into files plus a sitemap index
- Warns when URLs from different hosts are mixed in one sitemap
- Handles hundreds of thousands of URLs without uploading anything
What an XML sitemap is for
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs on your site you want search engines to know about. Crawlers mostly discover pages by following links, so a sitemap is a safety net: it points them to new pages, deep pages with few internal links and pages that changed recently. The format is defined by the sitemaps.org protocol, which Google, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed on in 2006, and every major search engine supports it. A sitemap does not guarantee indexing, but it makes discovery faster and gives you useful coverage reports in Google Search Console.
The format, line by line
Each page sits in a <url> element. Only <loc>, the full URL, is required. <lastmod> records when the page content last changed, in W3C date format such as 2026-03-15. <changefreq> and <priority> are optional hints. Special characters must be escaped, so an ampersand in a URL becomes &; this generator handles escaping and percent-encoding for you.
Limits and sitemap index files
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| URLs per sitemap file | 50,000 |
| Uncompressed file size | 50 MB |
| Maximum URL length | 2,048 characters |
| Sitemaps listed in one index | 50,000 |
When your list exceeds a limit, the protocol asks you to split it and create a sitemap index, a small file that lists the location of each sitemap. This tool does that automatically and packages everything in a ZIP. Upload all files to the folder you entered and submit only the index file.
Do lastmod, changefreq and priority matter?
Google has said it ignores changefreq and priority. It does use lastmod, but only for sites where the date proves accurate, meaning it changes when the main content changes rather than every time the page is generated. Setting every page to today’s date teaches search engines to distrust it. If you cannot provide real dates, leave lastmod out. Other search engines may still read the optional fields, so the generator offers them, including a simple depth-based priority that ranks the home page highest.
Why this tool does not crawl your site
Web browsers block a page on one site from reading pages on another site (a security rule called the same-origin policy, enforced through CORS). That is why an honest browser-based generator asks for a list instead of pretending to crawl. Good sources for the list are your CMS (WordPress has created a basic sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml since version 5.5), the page indexing export in Google Search Console, an e-commerce platform’s product export, or a desktop crawler.
What to leave out
- Redirecting URLs, error pages and pages marked noindex.
- Duplicate versions with tracking parameters or session IDs.
- URLs blocked in robots.txt, which you can check with the Robots.txt Generator.
- Mixed hosts: list only the canonical version of each URL, for example https://www.example.com and not also http://example.com.
Frequently asked questions
Can this tool crawl my website to find pages?
No. Browsers do not allow a web page to read other websites, so no browser-only tool can genuinely crawl your site. Export the URL list from your CMS, Search Console or a crawler and paste it here.
How many URLs can one sitemap hold?
Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. Larger lists are split here into several files plus a sitemap index that you submit instead.
Where do I upload sitemap.xml?
Usually to the root of your site so it opens at https://example.com/sitemap.xml. Then add a Sitemap line to robots.txt and submit the URL in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Should I set priority and changefreq?
They are optional. Google ignores both, so leaving them out is fine. An accurate lastmod date is more useful than either.
Why were some of my lines rejected?
Each line must be a complete URL beginning with http:// or https://. Lines without a scheme, with spaces in the domain or longer than 2,048 characters are skipped, and the warning lists which lines and why.