XML Sitemap Generator

Create a ready-to-upload sitemap.xml for your site. Enter your homepage and the generator follows same-site navigation, collecting up to 50 URLs into a standards-compliant file you can download.

How to use it

1. Enter your homepage address.
2. Run the generator and wait while it crawls.
3. Review the list, download the file and upload it to your site's root folder.

What it is for

The file lists the URLs you want search engines to know about. It is especially helpful for new sites, large sites and pages that are not well connected through navigation.

After you download it

1. Upload it so it opens at https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml.
2. Add a line such as Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to your robots.txt.
3. Submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

What to include

Only canonical, indexable pages that return status 200. Leave out admin areas, search results, thank-you screens and duplicate URLs with tracking parameters.

Limitations

The crawl stops at 50 URLs and cannot see pages behind a login or reachable only through JavaScript. Large sites are better served by a CMS plugin that updates the file automatically.

A worked example

A new photography portfolio has 30 pages but Google has indexed only five after a month. Generating a sitemap, uploading it and submitting it in Search Console gives Google a complete list, and most pages are discovered within days.

Anatomy of a sitemap entry

Each entry contains a <loc> with the full address and, optionally, <lastmod> showing when it last changed. Google mainly uses the address and an accurate last-modified date; priority and change-frequency values are largely ignored.

Keeping it healthy

• Update it whenever you add or remove important pages.
• Only list addresses that return status 200 and are not blocked by robots.txt.
• Use the same version of every address (https, with or without www) that your site uses.
• Split very large sites into several sitemaps listed in a sitemap index.

Checking for errors

Search Console's Sitemaps report shows how many URLs were discovered and flags problems such as redirects or blocked pages. Fix those and resubmit.

Related tools

• Robots.txt Generator – reference your sitemap for crawlers
• Online Ping Website Tool – notify IndexNow engines
• Broken Links Checker – make sure listed pages work

Step by step: adding the file to WordPress or a custom site

1. Download the file.
2. Upload it with your host's file manager or FTP to the folder that contains index.php.
3. Open yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to confirm it loads.
4. Submit it in Search Console.

If your CMS already generates a sitemap, use that instead to avoid having two competing files.