sitemap.xml

A sitemap.xml file is an XML document that lists URLs for a website along with additional metadata about each URL. This file helps search engines like Google, Bing, and others to more intelligently crawl and index a website.

Basic Structure

Here's what a basic sitemap.xml file looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-09-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/about</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-08-20</lastmod>
    <changefreq>yearly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Key Elements

• <urlset> - Root element that encapsulates the file and references the sitemap protocol standard
• <url> - Parent tag for each URL entry
• <loc> - Contains the URL of the page (must include protocol, e.g., https://)
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