XML Sitemap Generator

XML Sitemap Generator: Create A Sitemap For Your Website

An XML sitemap is a structured list of page URLs that helps search engines discover content on a website. This XML Sitemap Generator turns a list of web addresses into a downloadable sitemap.xml file. Add URLs manually, or use Detect URLs to collect links from a site you own or are authorized to crawl. Review the generated XML, copy it, or download it for installation on your website.

If you need to generate sitemap.xml for a site you manage, first prepare a clean list of public, canonical pages. This free XML sitemap generator can format that list, but you remain responsible for reviewing and publishing the file.

For a small, carefully reviewed list, you can generate XML sitemap output here without writing the XML tags by hand.

People comparing a sitemap.xml generator, an online sitemap XML generator, or a sitemap XML generator online should focus on output quality and maintenance. This XML sitemap generator tool creates standard XML; it does not connect to or submit files to Google. It can be used as an XML sitemap generator for Google because the output uses the standard sitemap format, but publishing and submitting it are separate actions. Searches for an XML sitemaps generator or a sitemap generator XML workflow can blur those steps, so verify that a generated file is accurate before publishing it.

You can use the tool as an online sitemap XML generator for a small site, a test environment, or a hand-curated page list. Its optional crawler follows links on the starting hostname, but it is limited and will not discover every page or determine which pages should be indexed. A sitemap is a discovery aid, not a promise of crawling, indexing, or search ranking.

The output contains a standard <urlset> with one <url> element for each accepted address. Each entry receives a location, today's date as lastmod, a weekly change frequency, and a priority value of 0.8. These metadata values are fixed by the current generator, so review them rather than treating them as page-specific facts.

How To Generate An XML Sitemap Online

If you are learning how to generate sitemap XML, use the form above to create a sitemap in a few steps. Select Generate Sitemap to generate a sitemap XML document from the reviewed URL list.

1. Choose a source. Enter one page URL per line, or type a website address into Detect URLs for a site you manage or are permitted to crawl.
2. Review the URL list. Remove redirects, duplicate addresses, private pages, error pages, and URLs that are not canonical or indexable.
3. Generate the XML. Select Generate Sitemap. The tool validates the entries as web URLs, creates the XML, and displays a progress indicator.
4. Inspect the output. Check locations, date values, and the number of entries. Make sure every URL belongs in the sitemap you plan to publish.
5. Copy or download. Use Copy to copy the XML or Download XML to save the file as sitemap.xml.
6. Publish and verify. Upload the file to the correct website location, test that it is accessible, then reference or submit it through your normal search-engine workflow.

When you enter a line without http:// or https://, the current generator adds https://. It accepts only valid URLs after that step, but it does not ensure every manual URL uses the same hostname. Keep the list aligned to the site and sitemap scope you intend to use, and inspect the generated <loc> entries before publishing.

Manual URL Entry And Automatic Detection

Manual entry gives you control over every address. Add one absolute HTTP or HTTPS URL per line, including the site origin and path. This works well when you already have a curated list, when the site is small, or when you want to include only a selected set of canonical pages. You can also edit the URLs filled in by the detection feature before generating the final file.

The Detect URLs button sends the submitted site address to a SnapZain server-side crawler. The crawler starts at the supplied URL and follows links found in HTML anchor elements on the exact same hostname. It can fetch at most 100 pages and return at most 500 collected URLs, but the fetch limit means a single run may discover fewer than that. It skips common static assets such as images, scripts, stylesheets, and PDFs.

This is a limited link-following crawl, not a complete site audit. Pages behind sign-in, pages that require JavaScript to reveal links, pages without incoming links, alternate subdomains, and URLs blocked or unavailable to the crawler may be missed. The crawler does not read robots.txt or existing sitemap files. Use it only for websites you own or are authorized to crawl, and inspect the returned list before using it.

What Goes Into The Generated sitemap.xml

Each URL is placed in a <url> element inside a sitemap protocol <urlset>. The current implementation escapes characters that have special meaning in XML, including ampersands and angle brackets, so a URL with query parameters is represented as XML text rather than breaking the document structure. The output is UTF-8 XML and can be inspected in the output box before download.

For example, a page address containing a query can be represented in XML with its ampersand escaped:

<url>
  <loc>https://example.com/search?type=guide&amp;page=2</loc>
  <lastmod>2026-10-25</lastmod>
  <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
  <priority>0.8</priority>
</url>

The date in this example illustrates the format; the live tool uses the browser's current date when it generates the file. It assigns the same date, weekly frequency, and priority to every URL in one output. It does not inspect page update history, editorial importance, or actual change schedules to choose those values.

Choose URLs Search Engines Should Discover

A sitemap should contain the canonical versions of pages that you want search engines to consider for crawling. Prefer the final HTTPS URL when the page redirects from HTTP, and use the preferred hostname consistently if the site redirects between www and non-www forms. Avoid mixing tracking parameters or alternate copies of the same page into the list unless there is a specific technical reason.

Do not add URLs that should remain private, pages that return errors, redirecting URLs, or pages explicitly marked not to be indexed. A sitemap cannot override access controls, robots directives, canonical tags, or other indexing signals. If a URL is in the sitemap but the page is blocked, duplicate, unavailable, or noindex, search engines may ignore it or process it differently than you expect.

Before you generate an XML sitemap, check that each address loads successfully for the intended audience, resolves to the preferred canonical URL, and contains content worth discovering. The auto-detected list is only a starting point: it may contain pages you do not want to include and omit important pages that are not linked in crawlable HTML.

Important: A sitemap tells search engines which URLs you consider important enough to list; it does not force search engines to crawl, index, or rank those pages.

Understanding lastmod, changefreq, And priority

The sitemap protocol supports optional metadata for a URL, but metadata is useful only when it reflects reality. The current sitemap XML generator writes today's date into every <lastmod>, uses weekly for every <changefreq>, and assigns 0.8 for every <priority>. These are fixed defaults from the tool rather than values you can configure per page.

lastmod is intended to describe when the page was actually modified in a meaningful way. A generation date is not necessarily the page's last modification date. If you republish the sitemap every day but the pages have not changed, a new generated date may be misleading. Where accurate page-level update dates matter, use a content-management or build process that can supply actual modification timestamps.

changefreq expresses a suggested change pattern, and priority is a relative value within a site. They are not commands that guarantee a crawl schedule or ranking boost. Do not assume that assigning a high priority makes a page more likely to rank. For this tool, review the static values and consider whether a site-managed sitemap with accurate metadata is a better fit.

WordPress Sitemap XML Generator Considerations

If your website uses WordPress, first check whether the installation or an SEO plugin already publishes an XML sitemap. A WordPress sitemap may automatically include published posts, pages, categories, or other content types according to your site settings. Generating a second independent file can create overlapping lists or drift out of date when content changes.

This tool does not connect to a WordPress account, query the database, inspect plugin settings, or automatically learn about future posts. You can paste known WordPress page URLs or use Detect URLs on a public site you control, then review the result. However, the limited crawler may not see every archive, pagination route, JavaScript-driven link, or page requiring authentication.

If you choose to maintain a manually generated sitemap for WordPress, establish who updates it and when. After a site migration, URL change, or content removal, refresh the file and confirm that it does not advertise obsolete addresses. A sitemap supplied by the site's own CMS or SEO plugin is often more maintainable because it can update along with the content.

Large Sites, Sitemap Indexes, And File Limits

This tool creates one sitemap XML document and does not split a large URL list into multiple sitemap files or create a sitemap index. Search-engine sitemap protocols define size and URL-count limits for individual sitemap files. If your site approaches those limits, contains many content types, or requires separate image, video, or news sitemap features, use a generator designed to manage those requirements and validate its output against current protocol guidance.

For a large site, automated generation should use the authoritative source of page URLs rather than relying solely on link discovery. A CMS, database, static-site build, or routing manifest can provide canonical URLs and real modification times. Add validation to detect duplicate entries, redirects, non-200 responses, disallowed paths, and malformed XML. If multiple sitemaps are needed, publish an index that points to the individual files.

The automatic crawl in this tool is intentionally small: it fetches up to 100 pages and has a maximum collection limit of 500 URLs. Since only pages actually fetched are added to the collected list, a run may return at most 100 discovered page addresses under the current controller behavior. It should not be treated as a full-scale crawler or used to infer that a large site's sitemap is complete.

Upload And Make The Sitemap Discoverable

After downloading sitemap.xml, validate it and upload it to a location on the correct website. A common setup places it at the root, for example https://example.com/sitemap.xml, but use the location and scope appropriate to your site. Open the final URL in a browser or use a suitable XML validator to confirm that the file is accessible and well formed after upload.

You can make search engines aware of the sitemap by adding its location to your site's robots.txt file and by submitting it in the appropriate webmaster tools. This generator does not upload the file, edit robots.txt, connect to Google Search Console, or submit anything on your behalf. If you publish the file in a different location, verify that the URL you reference matches the actual public file.

After submission, check the search engine's sitemap report for parsing errors, inaccessible files, or URLs it could not process. A successful sitemap fetch only confirms that the file can be read; it does not mean that every listed URL will be indexed. Keep the sitemap accurate as the site changes and remove addresses that no longer represent valid, canonical pages.

Common XML Sitemap Generator Issues

• No URLs appear in the output: Add at least one URL per line before selecting Generate Sitemap.
• An entry points to the wrong address: Check whether the tool added HTTPS to a line without a scheme and inspect the generated location.
• The crawler found too few pages: It follows HTML anchor links on the exact hostname and has a limited number of page fetches.
• Some detected pages should not be listed: Edit the detected URL list and remove duplicates, redirects, noindex pages, and private routes.
• The sitemap is valid but pages are not indexed: A sitemap helps discovery but cannot override indexing decisions or guarantee inclusion.
• The output date is inaccurate: The tool assigns today's date to all entries; it does not know each page's actual modification time.
• A large sitemap is incomplete: This generator creates a single file and does not split output or build a sitemap index.

If the progress display completes but the output is not what you expect, inspect the list of URLs first. Generation can only format the addresses provided or detected; it does not determine whether a page is useful, canonical, or indexable. Correct the input list, regenerate, and validate the XML before publishing the replacement.

When To Use An Online XML Sitemap Generator

An online XML sitemap generator is convenient when you need to create a small, one-time file from a known set of page URLs. It can also help you understand sitemap structure or produce a draft to validate. The manual list keeps you in control of which addresses go into the document, while the optional crawler can suggest linked URLs from a small public site.

For a frequently updated website, use a sitemap workflow connected to the system that owns the content. For a WordPress site, check the built-in or plugin-provided sitemap. For a custom application, generate the file from canonical routes or published content records. This reduces stale URLs and makes it easier to set accurate update dates and support multiple sitemap files when needed.

Related utilities can assist with other parts of working with site data: URL Parser separates a web address into components, TSV to JSON converts tab-separated rows into JSON objects, and QR Code Generator creates a QR image from a URL or text. These tools have separate purposes and do not validate, publish, or submit your sitemap.

Final Sitemap Review Checklist

Before publishing your generated sitemap XML, confirm that the file contains only the intended public URLs. Check the preferred scheme and hostname, remove redirects and duplicates, and confirm that each important page is canonical and eligible for indexing. Review the generated metadata, particularly the shared lastmod date, weekly frequency, and priority values, because they are not selected from individual page data.

Conclusion

Then check the XML syntax, upload the file to the correct location, verify that it can be fetched publicly, and reference or submit it through your normal site-management process. Revisit the file when URLs change or content is removed. A reliable sitemap is a maintained representation of useful canonical pages—not simply every address that can be found on a website.