XML Sitemap Generator
Enter your website URLs, set optional priority and change frequency, then generate an XML sitemap ready to submit to search engines.
Reviewed by the ToolNestr Editorial Team — July 2026
How an XML sitemap is structured
An XML sitemap follows the http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9 schema. The root element is <urlset>, which contains one <url> element per page. Each <url> must contain a <loc> element with the full page URL, and may optionally include <lastmod> (last modified date), <changefreq> (how often the page changes), and <priority> (relative importance from 0.0 to 1.0).
Worked example
Given these three URLs with weekly changefreq and 0.7 priority:
https://example.com/ https://example.com/about https://example.com/contact
The generator produces:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-25</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>0.7</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-25</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>0.7</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/contact</loc>
<lastmod>2024-06-25</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>0.7</priority>
</url>
</urlset> Each URL becomes a <url> block with its metadata. Search engines parse this file and add all listed URLs to their crawl queue.
Changefreq usage distribution
How frequently websites indicate their pages change in sitemaps.
Web Developer
Generates sitemaps after site launches or major updates. Automates URL collection and creates properly formatted XML for search engine submission.
SEO Specialist
Audits sitemap coverage and priority settings. Identifies missing pages, fixes incorrect changefreq values and submits optimized sitemaps to search consoles.
Site Owner
Creates a sitemap for a small business site without technical knowledge. Lists key pages and generates a ready-to-upload XML file.
Blogger
Maintains a blog with regular posts. Uses the sitemap to ensure new articles are discovered quickly and older posts are recrawled when updated.
Sitemap XML tag reference
| Tag | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| <loc> | Yes | The full URL of the page, including protocol (https://) |
| <lastmod> | No | Date of last modification (YYYY-MM-DD or W3C datetime) |
| <changefreq> | No | How often the page changes: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never |
| <priority> | No | Importance from 0.0 to 1.0 (default 0.5) |
| <urlset> | Yes | Root element wrapping all <url> entries, with xmlns attribute |
| <url> | Yes | Container for each URL entry's metadata |
How to use the Sitemap Generator
Enter your URLs
Paste a list of URLs, one per line. Include the full URL with protocol (https://). The tool validates basic URL format automatically.
Set options
Choose default priority and changefreq for all URLs. Set a last modified date if desired. These can be adjusted per URL later.
Generate and submit
Click Generate to create the XML. Copy or download the file, then upload it to your server and submit to search engines.
Tips for better sitemaps
Only include indexable pages
Exclude pages blocked by robots.txt, redirects, noindex tags, or canonicalized URLs. Including non-indexable pages wastes crawl budget and may confuse search engines.
Use accurate lastmod dates
Correct lastmod dates help search engines prioritize recrawling. If you don't track modification dates, omit the tag rather than using incorrect values.
Keep your sitemap updated
Regenerate and resubmit your sitemap whenever you add or remove pages. Automated CMS plugins can handle this, but manual generation is fine for smaller sites.
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a structured file that lists all the important pages on your website. It uses XML tags to provide metadata about each URL, including when it was last updated, how often it changes and its relative priority. Search engines use this file to discover and intelligently crawl your content.
Why sitemaps matter
Sitemaps are especially important for new websites with few backlinks, large sites with thousands of pages, or sites with deep navigation structures. They ensure that even the most buried pages have a chance of being discovered and indexed by search engines.
Priority and changefreq explained
Priority and changefreq are hints, not directives. A page with priority 1.0 and changefreq "daily" will not be crawled more often than a priority 0.1 page. Google has stated that it uses these signals loosely — accurate sitemaps with clean URL lists matter far more than precise priority values.
Submitting to Google
After generating your sitemap, upload it to your server's root directory (e.g., https://example.com/sitemap.xml). Then submit it via Google Search Console under "Sitemaps". You can also add the sitemap URL to your robots.txt file for automatic discovery.
Frequently asked questions
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all important pages on your website and tells search engines when they were last updated, how often they change, and their relative importance.
Why do I need an XML sitemap?
Sitemaps help search engines discover and index your pages, especially for new sites, large sites, or pages that are hard to reach through normal crawling.
What is priority?
Priority (0.0 to 1.0) indicates the relative importance of a page compared to other pages on your site. The default is 0.5. It only hints at importance — search engines may ignore it.
What is changefreq?
Changefreq tells search engines how often a page is likely to change: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or never. Like priority, it is a hint, not a command.
How many URLs can a sitemap contain?
A single sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs and must not exceed 50 MB (uncompressed). For larger sites, create multiple sitemaps with a sitemap index file.
Where should I submit my sitemap?
Submit to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. You can also reference it in robots.txt (Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml) for automatic discovery.
Should I include all pages?
Include your most important pages — home, categories, products, articles. Exclude thin content, duplicate pages, paginated archives and admin-only areas.
What is a lastmod date?
Lastmod (last modified) tells search engines when a page was last updated. Accurate dates help crawlers decide whether to recrawl a page.
Can this tool generate a sitemap for a large site?
Yes. You can paste thousands of URLs. Generation is instant since everything runs in your browser. For very large lists, splitting into multiple sitemaps is recommended.
Is my URL data safe?
Yes. All processing is done in your browser. No URLs or data are sent to any server.