A `sitemap.xml` file is an XML file that helps search engines understand the structure of your website. It lists the URLs of your site along with additional metadata about each URL. Here are its key components:
- URL: The location of a page on your site.
- Last Modified: The date the page was last updated.
- Change Frequency: How often the page is likely to change (e.g., daily, weekly).
- Priority: The importance of the page relative to other pages on your site, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0.
A basic example of a `sitemap.xml` file looks like this:
http://www.example.com/
2023-10-01
monthly
1.0
http://www.example.com/about
2023-09-15
monthly
0.8
You should ensure your `sitemap.xml` is accessible at
http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml so that search engines can easily find it.