Sitemap Generator

GOOGLE INDEXING SEO SITEMAP XML
Share:
By Checked against sources by , Founder & Architect, RECATOOLS Published Updated Last reviewed

Build an XML sitemap manually — add your URLs, set priority and change frequency, download ready for Google Search Console. Free, no signup required.

RT-SEO-004 · SEO & Marketing
Your browser is too old for this tool’s interactive features. Please update to Safari 13.1, Chrome or Edge 80, Firefox 74 or newer.

Sitemap Generator Tool

Last Modified: Change Freq: Priority:

0 URLs in sitemap

URL Last Mod Freq Priority Remove
No URLs added yet. Add your first URL above.
XML Preview Read-only — click Generate to refresh

Google limit: A maximum of 50,000 URLs and 50 MB per sitemap file. For larger sites, use a sitemap index file that references multiple individual sitemaps.

Advertisement
After results · AD-W1 Responsive · Post-tool — peak engagement

How to Use the Sitemap Generator

Enter your page URLs

Type or paste your page URLs one by one using the input row, or click "Paste multiple URLs" to expand the bulk add panel and add a list of URLs at once.

Add a date only if it is real

Last-modified date, change frequency and priority are all optional, and all start as "leave out". Google ignores changefreq and priority, and uses lastmod only when it is accurate, so set a date only for a page you know changed then. The tool warns if every URL carries the same date.

Generate and review the XML

Click Generate Sitemap to update the XML preview panel. Review the output to confirm your URLs and settings look correct before downloading.

Download and submit to Google

Download sitemap.xml and upload it to the root of your site. Where it lives limits what it may list: a sitemap at /catalog/sitemap.xml can only include URLs under /catalog/. Then submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps, or add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt so crawlers find it themselves.

Advertisement
After how-to · AD-W2 Responsive

XML Sitemaps — Do You Actually Need One in 2026?

What an XML sitemap is, and when you need one

An XML sitemap lists the URLs on a site, with optional metadata, in the format of the sitemaps.org protocol — "Sitemap 0.90", which the protocol's site says has wide adoption, "including support from Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft". It tells crawlers which pages exist; it is a hint, not an order to crawl or index anything.

Google's own guidance on whether you need one is specific. You might not, it says, if your site is "small" — about 500 pages or fewer that should be in search results — if it is comprehensively linked internally, so Googlebot can reach every important page from the home page, and if you do not have many media files or news pages. Large sites, new sites with few inbound links, and sites with pages that nothing links to benefit most.

Priority, changefreq and lastmod

Google's documentation is blunt: "Google ignores <priority> and <changefreq> values." It uses <lastmod> "if it's consistently and verifiably ... accurate", and that date "should reflect the date and time of the last significant update to the page" — a change to the main content, the structured data or the links, not the copyright year in the footer. That is why this tool no longer does what it did until 30 September 2026: stamp today's date on every URL, bulk-added ones included, and write priority and changefreq by default. A sitemap claiming every page changed today is exactly the kind of lastmod Google learns to disregard.

A lastmod date is only useful if it is true. A sitemap that says every page changed today teaches Google to ignore the dates.

The protocol's limits

One sitemap may hold at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB (52,428,800 bytes) uncompressed; beyond that, split it into several files and list them in a sitemap index. Every <loc> must begin with the protocol and be fewer than 2,048 characters, and all URLs in one sitemap must be on the same host and protocol as the sitemap itself. Values must be entity-escaped — an ampersand in a URL becomes &amp;. The tool now percent-encodes each URL as you add it, checks these limits and warns when they are broken.

Submitting it

In Google Search Console, open Sitemaps and submit the sitemap's URL; the report there shows whether Google could read it. Alternatively, add Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to robots.txt — the line can go anywhere in the file and is not tied to any user-agent group. Most content management systems generate sitemaps themselves; this manual builder is for hand-built and static sites.

Google ignores priority and changefreq, and trusts only an accurate lastmod

01

Sitemap 0.90, the sitemaps.org protocol, has "wide adoption, including support from Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft".

02

Google: "Google ignores <priority> and <changefreq> values."

03

Google uses <lastmod> only "if it's consistently and verifiably ... accurate" — for example, by comparing it with the page's last modification.

04

A lastmod should mark a significant change — main content, structured data or links. Updating the copyright date does not count.

05

One sitemap may hold at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB (52,428,800 bytes) uncompressed. More than that needs several files and a sitemap index.

06

A <loc> must begin with the protocol and be fewer than 2,048 characters long.

07

All URLs in one sitemap must share the host and protocol of the sitemap: one at https://www.example.com cannot list https://shop.example.com pages.

08

Google says a site of about 500 pages or fewer, well linked internally, with few media files, might not need a sitemap at all.

09

A Sitemap: line in robots.txt can go anywhere in the file and is not tied to any user-agent group.

10

Until 30 September 2026 this generator stamped today's date on every URL it added — the pattern Google's lastmod guidance warns against.

📅 Research current as of 30 Sep 2026 · Sources: Deterministic transformation of the text or numbers you enter — no external rates, reference data or network calls. Reviewed for wording and accuracy.
Standards, published formulas, and reference data are revised over time — check against a current authoritative source before relying on these figures.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • An XML sitemap is a file listing the URLs on your site in the sitemaps.org format, optionally with a last-modified date for each. It tells search engines such as Google and Bing which pages exist, which helps most on large or new sites and for pages nothing links to. It is a hint: it does not make a page rank or guarantee it is indexed.
  • Not always. Google says you might not need one if your site has about 500 pages or fewer that should appear in search, is comprehensively linked internally, and has few media files or news pages. Larger sites, new sites with few inbound links, and sites with orphaned pages benefit most.
  • In Google Search Console, select your property, open Sitemaps, enter the sitemap's URL and submit it; the report shows whether Google could fetch and read it. You can also add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt so crawlers find it without a manual submission.
  • A sitemap tells search engines which pages to crawl and index — it is an invitation. A robots.txt file tells search engines which pages not to crawl — it sets restrictions. They work together: robots.txt can include a Sitemap directive pointing to your sitemap.xml, and the sitemap should only list pages that are not blocked in robots.txt. Including a noindex or robots-blocked URL in your sitemap creates a conflicting signal that may confuse crawlers.
  • No. Google's documentation says it ignores the priority and changefreq values, so setting every page to 1.0 changes nothing. The field that can matter is lastmod, and only when it is accurate. This tool now leaves priority and changefreq out unless you choose them.
  • Whenever pages are added or removed, and set a page's lastmod when its main content, structured data or links change significantly. A CMS usually does this automatically; for a hand-built site, regenerate the file after each publish.
  • A file that lists other sitemap files. Each sitemap may hold at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed, so larger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and submit the index instead.
  • The sitemaps.org format can be extended with separate namespaces for images, video and news. This generator writes plain URL sitemaps only; use your CMS or a dedicated tool for the extensions.
  • Add a line such as Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml anywhere in robots.txt. It must be a fully qualified URL, it is not tied to any user-agent group, and you can list several.
  • 100% free, with no account, subscription, or hidden limits. Everything runs in your browser — no URLs are sent to any server, and no data is stored. RECATOOLS is free to use, with no paywall — we plan to fund it with contextual advertising, shown only with your consent. The tool works with or without ad consent enabled.

Method & sources

What this tool implements

  • Until this review every URL, bulk-added ones included, got today's date as lastmod and default priority/changefreq. Google: it "ignores <priority> and <changefreq> values" and uses lastmod only "if it's consistently and verifiably ... accurate".
  • sitemaps.org: loc under 2,048 characters; at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB (52,428,800 bytes); all URLs from a single host; a sitemap in /catalog/ may list only URLs under /catalog/.
  • Removed invented claims: a Gary Illyes quotation, an IMDA "mandatory" rule for gov.sg, "60% of indexed pages have a sitemap", Straits Times and NYT specifics.

Sources

Advertisement
Pre-footer · AD-W3 728 × 90