XML sitemap generator
Type your domain and it follows the links to find your pages. Or paste a list yourself, if you would rather.
Your pages
Let it find them from your home page, or paste your own list.
Your sitemap.xml
The one tool here that uses the server
Every other tool on this site runs entirely in your browser. This one cannot, for a reason worth knowing: a web page is not allowed to read another website. The same-origin policy blocks it, and that rule is what stops any page you visit from quietly reading your webmail.
So "Find them for me" asks a small script on this server to follow the links instead. It returns a list of addresses and nothing else — no page content is stored, and nothing about the crawl is kept. If you would rather not use it, the paste option does the same job with a list you supply.
What a sitemap is for
A sitemap is a list of the pages you want found. It does not make anything rank. What it does is make sure nothing gets missed — particularly pages that are not linked to from anywhere obvious, and new pages you would rather not wait weeks for.
If your site is small and every page is reachable by clicking links, a sitemap changes very little. If your site is large, new, or has pages buried three clicks deep, it matters a lot.
The rules
- Same domain only. A sitemap at yoursite.com cannot list URLs on othersite.com.
- 50,000 URLs and 50MB uncompressed per file. Past that, split it and use a sitemap index.
- Full URLs.
/about/is not valid;https://yoursite.com/about/is. - Only pages you want indexed. Listing a noindex page sends two opposite signals.
What Google actually does with the extra tags
Honestly, less than people think:
| Tag | Reality |
|---|---|
loc | Essential. This is the whole point. |
lastmod | Used, if you are honest with it. Setting today's date on every page every day teaches Google to ignore it. |
changefreq | Google has said it ignores this. Harmless to include. |
priority | Also largely ignored. It never affected rankings between sites, only a hint within your own. |
So the useful work is the URL list itself, and an honest lastmod.
After you make it
- Save it as
sitemap.xmlin your site root. - Add
Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xmlto your robots.txt. - Submit it in Google Search Console, then check the coverage report a week later — that is where you find out which pages Google refused, and why.
Common questions
How often should I update my sitemap?
Whenever you add or remove pages. If your site rarely changes, once every few months is fine. Do not regenerate it daily with fake dates — that makes lastmod worthless.
Do I need a sitemap if my site is small?
Not really, if every page is reachable by clicking links from the homepage. It still costs nothing and gives you a coverage report in Search Console, which is genuinely useful.
Should I include images or videos?
Only if images are a major part of what you offer, such as a gallery or a shop. For most sites a plain URL list is enough.
What about pages with query parameters?
Leave them out. Tick the strip option above. Parameter URLs are usually duplicates of a clean page, and listing both creates the duplication you are trying to avoid.
Want this checked on your real account?
A tool can only work with the numbers you give it. If you want someone to look at what is actually happening in your ad account, the first conversation is free.
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