What is an XML sitemap generator?
An XML sitemap generator turns a list of page addresses into a sitemap.xml file that search engines can use to discover a website's important URLs. Each entry can include the page location and optional hints about when it was modified, how often it tends to change and its relative priority. This tool creates the XML locally in your browser, so the URLs you enter are not sent to a server.
Create a sitemap from URLs
- Paste one complete page URL on each line.
- Pick optional values for change frequency, priority and last modified date.
- Generate the XML, then review it before copying or downloading sitemap.xml.
- Upload the final file to your site's root and submit its URL through relevant search-engine tools.
Use canonical, publicly accessible URLs for the pages you want crawlers to find. The generator removes exact duplicate lines automatically. It also checks that each entry begins with http:// or https://, which helps prevent malformed location tags. A simple sitemap is often best: include valuable pages you want indexed, rather than every filtered, duplicated or private URL your site can produce.
What the optional fields mean
The location tag is the essential part of a sitemap entry. Last modified can tell a crawler when the content was most recently changed. Change frequency is only a hint, not a crawl command, and search engines may ignore it. Priority is also a relative hint within your own site; a priority of 1.0 does not make a page outrank another website.
If your pages do not share the same metadata, create separate sitemap files or edit the downloaded XML so individual entries reflect the right details. Do not set a recent modification date just to encourage crawling. Accurate entries make the sitemap more trustworthy and easier to maintain.
Publish and maintain your sitemap
Place the file at a stable public address, commonly https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Add that absolute URL to robots.txt if appropriate, and submit it in the search consoles you use. A sitemap helps discovery but does not guarantee indexing. Pages still need useful, accessible content and should not be blocked from crawling.
Update the sitemap as important pages are added, removed or substantially changed. This generator does not crawl your website or publish the file for you, so check every URL and validate the generated XML with your normal site workflow before going live.