XML Sitemap Best Practices 2026: The Complete Optimization Guide

1. XML Sitemap Structure and Valid Elements

An XML sitemap follows the Sitemaps protocol (sitemaps.org), which was jointly created by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo in 2006. The basic structure wraps a set of <url> entries inside a <urlset> root element. Each URL entry can contain four elements, though only <loc> is required.

<loc> -- The Page URL (Required)

The <loc> element contains the full, absolute URL of the page. It must include the protocol (https://), must be URL-encoded for special characters, and must match the canonical version of the URL. Google will use this URL as the candidate for indexing.

<lastmod> -- Last Modification Date (Recommended)

The <lastmod> element tells crawlers when the page was last meaningfully updated. It uses W3C Datetime format: YYYY-MM-DD or the full ISO 8601 format YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD. Google has stated that lastmod is the most useful optional element in sitemaps, but only when the date is accurate. If you set every page to today's date on every build, Google learns to ignore your lastmod values entirely.

<changefreq> and <priority> (Ignored by Google)

The <changefreq> and <priority> elements are part of the sitemaps.org protocol but Google completely ignores both of them. Google confirmed this in multiple public statements and in their official documentation. Bing also largely ignores these values. However, including them does not hurt -- they simply have no effect on how often Google crawls or how highly it prioritizes your pages.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog/seo-guide</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-23</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/products/widget</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-15</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

2. Priority and Changefreq: What Google Really Uses

The priority element accepts values from 0.0 (least important) to 1.0 (most important), with a default of 0.5. The changefreq element accepts values like “always,” “hourly,” “daily,” “weekly,” “monthly,” “yearly,” and “never.” In theory, these should guide crawlers on what to prioritize and how often to revisit pages.

In practice, Google ignores both values entirely. Google's John Mueller has repeatedly confirmed this, stating that Google determines crawl priority based on its own signals: internal link structure, backlinks, content freshness (actual changes detected, not lastmod), and user engagement data from Chrome Real User Experience (CrUX) data.

What Actually Determines Google's Crawl Priority

3. Image Sitemaps and Video Sitemaps

Image Sitemaps

Image sitemaps use the image:image namespace extension to help Google discover images that might not be found through regular crawling. This is particularly valuable for images loaded via JavaScript, CSS background images, lazy-loaded images, and images in JSON data structures. According to Google, image sitemaps can help images appear in Google Images search results.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/products/blue-widget</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/images/blue-widget-front.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Blue Widget - Front View</image:title>
      <image:caption>Premium blue widget with ergonomic design</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/images/blue-widget-side.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Blue Widget - Side View</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

Video Sitemaps

Video sitemaps use the video:video namespace to help Google discover and understand video content on your pages. This is required for video rich results in search. Google supports both inline video sitemap entries and separate video sitemap files.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/tutorials/seo-basics</loc>
    <video:video>
      <video:thumbnail_loc>https://example.com/thumbs/seo-basics.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>
      <video:title>SEO Basics Tutorial 2026</video:title>
      <video:description>Learn SEO fundamentals in 15 minutes</video:description>
      <video:content_loc>https://example.com/videos/seo-basics.mp4</video:content_loc>
      <video:duration>900</video:duration>
      <video:publication_date>2026-02-23T00:00:00+00:00</video:publication_date>
    </video:video>
  </url>
</urlset>

4. Sitemap Index Files for Large Sites

When your site exceeds 50,000 URLs or your sitemap file exceeds 50 MB uncompressed, you need a sitemap index file. A sitemap index is an XML file that references multiple child sitemaps, allowing you to organize URLs by content type, section, or language. The sitemap index itself can contain up to 50,000 sitemap references, giving you a theoretical capacity of 2.5 billion URLs.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-23</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-23</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products.xml.gz</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-20</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-images.xml.gz</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-18</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Best Practices for Sitemap Organization

• Segment by content type: Separate sitemaps for blog posts, product pages, category pages, and landing pages. This makes it easy to track indexation rates per content type in Google Search Console.
• Segment by update frequency: Pages that change daily (news, prices) in one sitemap, and static pages (about, terms) in another. This helps you set accurate lastmod dates per segment.
• Gzip large sitemaps: For sitemaps with 10,000+ URLs, serve them as .xml.gz files. This reduces file size by 60-80% and speeds up crawler processing.
• Keep all sitemaps on the same domain: Child sitemaps must be on the same host as the sitemap index. Cross-domain sitemap references are not allowed.
• Update the index lastmod: When a child sitemap changes, update the corresponding lastmod in the sitemap index file to signal the change to crawlers.

5. Dynamic Sitemap Generation

Modern web frameworks support dynamic sitemap generation, which automatically creates and updates your sitemap as content changes. This eliminates the need for manual sitemap maintenance and ensures your sitemap stays accurate.

Next.js 14+ (App Router)

// app/sitemap.ts — Served at /sitemap.xml
import { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default async function sitemap(): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
  // Fetch dynamic content from your database or CMS
  const posts = await fetch('https://api.example.com/posts').then(r => r.json())

  const staticPages: MetadataRoute.Sitemap = [
    {
      url: 'https://example.com',
      lastModified: new Date('2026-02-23'),
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 1.0,
    },
    {
      url: 'https://example.com/about',
      lastModified: new Date('2026-01-01'),
      changeFrequency: 'monthly',
      priority: 0.5,
    },
  ]

  const dynamicPages: MetadataRoute.Sitemap = posts.map((post: {
    slug: string; updatedAt: string;
  }) => ({
    url: `https://example.com/blog/${post.slug}`,
    lastModified: new Date(post.updatedAt),
    changeFrequency: 'weekly' as const,
    priority: 0.7,
  }))

  return [...staticPages, ...dynamicPages]
}

WordPress

WordPress 5.5+ includes a built-in XML sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml. For more control, plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and All in One SEO generate optimized sitemaps that exclude noindex pages, include image entries, and separate content types. If you use a plugin, disable the core WordPress sitemap to avoid duplicates.

Static Site Generators

For Gatsby, Hugo, Eleventy, and other static site generators, use build-time sitemap plugins. The key is to set lastmod to the actual content modification date (from your content files or CMS), not the build timestamp. Most default plugins get this wrong -- they use the build date for every page, which makes lastmod useless.

6. Submitting to Google Search Console and Bing

Submitting your sitemap directly to search engines accelerates discovery and provides valuable indexation feedback. There are three primary methods for sitemap submission:

Google Search Console Submission

1. Go to Google Search Console and select your property
2. Navigate to Indexing > Sitemaps in the left sidebar
3. Enter your sitemap URL (e.g., sitemap.xml) in the “Add a new sitemap” field
4. Click Submit
5. Monitor the status: Success (green), Has warnings (yellow), Error (red)
6. Check the “Discovered URLs” count to verify all your URLs are being processed

Bing Webmaster Tools Submission

Bing Webmaster Tools offers similar sitemap submission at bing.com/webmasters. Bing also supports the IndexNow protocol, which allows you to notify Bing (and other participating search engines like Yandex and Naver) instantly when content changes. IndexNow is a push-based alternative to the pull-based sitemap model and can significantly reduce the time between publishing and indexing.

Robots.txt Reference (Always Do This)

Regardless of manual submission, always include a Sitemap: directive in your robots.txt file. This ensures that all crawlers -- including those from search engines where you have not manually submitted -- can discover your sitemap automatically. Place it at the bottom of your robots.txt:

# At the bottom of robots.txt
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap-index.xml

7. Sitemap vs Robots.txt: What Each Controls

Sitemaps and robots.txt are complementary but fundamentally different. Understanding the distinction prevents common configuration mistakes that hurt your SEO.

The ideal configuration uses both files together: robots.txt blocks low-value and private pages from crawling, while the sitemap lists all your important, canonical, indexable pages. The Sitemap directive in robots.txt bridges them together, helping crawlers find your sitemap automatically.

8. Frequently Asked Questions