An XML sitemap is a file that lists all important pages on your website, helping search engines discover, crawl, and understand your site structure. It's like a roadmap for search engine bots.
XML sitemap contents:
- Page URLs
- Last modification dates
- Change frequency hints
- Priority indicators
- Image and video references
Sitemap best practices:
- Include all indexable pages
- Keep file size under 50MB
- Limit to 50,000 URLs per sitemap
- Use sitemap index for large sites
- Update when content changes
- Submit to Search Console
Sitemaps and AI visibility:
- Help AI crawlers discover content
- Indicate site structure and hierarchy
- Show which pages are most important
- Support comprehensive content indexing
Maintaining an accurate, up-to-date sitemap ensures both search engines and AI systems can effectively discover all your important content.