XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file that lists the URLs you want search engines to know about. Each entry can carry optional metadata such as lastmod (when the page last changed), and historically changefreq and priority. Search engines read the file to discover pages and understand which ones are worth recrawling.

A sitemap does not force indexing. It is a discovery aid — a way to tell Google and Bing "these pages exist and here is when they changed." It is most valuable on large sites, sites with weak internal linking, and sites where new pages appear faster than crawlers find them on their own.

A common mistake is listing every URL regardless of quality: redirects, noindex pages, and non-canonical duplicates. A sitemap should contain only canonical, indexable URLs that return 200. Keeping it accurate matters more than keeping it large.

Indexly generates a complete XML sitemap for any site and keeps it current with scheduled re-crawls, so the list never drifts out of sync with the live site.