Sitemap
A file listing your important pages — XML version for Google, HTML version for users.
A sitemap is a file listing the URLs you want search engines to know about, usually XML at the site root. It does not force indexing; it speeds discovery, which matters most for large sites and for pages that few internal links point at. Include only canonical, indexable URLs — listing redirects or noindex pages wastes the signal.
Definition
A sitemap is a file that lists all important pages on your website. There are two types: XML sitemaps (for search engines — machine-readable, submitted via GSC) and HTML sitemaps (for users — a navigable page listing all site sections).
XML sitemaps can include metadata: last modified date, change frequency, and priority. Maximum size: 50,000 URLs or 50MB per sitemap file (use sitemap index for larger sites).
Why It Matters
Sitemaps are the fastest way to tell Google about new or updated content. Especially critical for new sites, large sites, and sites with JavaScript-rendered content.
Example
Submit your sitemap at https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml via Google Search Console > Sitemaps. Google will start discovering and crawling your listed URLs within hours.
Related Terms
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