Free XML Sitemap Generator
Twaino’s XML sitemap generator allows you to create a valid sitemap.xml file directly from your browser. An XML sitemap is a file that lists all important URLs on your website and provides metadata about each page, such as the last modification date, update frequency, and relative priority. This file helps search engines discover and efficiently index all of your content.
Without a sitemap, search engines must discover your pages by following internal links on your site. For large sites or sites with complex architecture, some pages may remain invisible to crawlers. The XML sitemap solves this problem by providing a complete map of your site.
How to use the sitemap generator?
Add your URLs one by one by clicking “+ Add a URL”. For each URL, enter the complete address, last modification date, change frequency, and priority. The XML preview updates in real-time in the right panel. Once satisfied, you can copy the XML or download it directly as a .xml file ready to be placed at the root of your site.
Understanding sitemap tags
The loc tag contains the complete URL of the page. This is the only mandatory tag. The lastmod tag indicates the date of the last significant modification of the page in YYYY-MM-DD format. The changefreq tag provides an indication of how often the content changes: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or never. The priority tag ranges from 0.0 to 1.0 and indicates the relative importance of the page compared to other pages on your site.
It is important to note that these tags are indications for search engines, not directives. Google may choose to follow them or not based on its own crawl algorithms.
Best practices for your XML sitemap
Include only canonical URLs from your site: no redirected pages, no pages with noindex, no duplicate pages. Limit yourself to 50,000 URLs per sitemap file or 50 MB file size. Beyond that, create a sitemap index. Update the lastmod date only when content actually changes, not automatically with each crawl.
Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to accelerate indexing. You can also indicate it in your robots.txt file with the Sitemap directive.
SEO impact of XML sitemap
The XML sitemap is particularly useful for new sites that don’t yet have many backlinks, sites with thousands of pages, sites whose architecture makes certain pages difficult to reach through internal links, and sites that frequently publish new content. Google uses the sitemap as a complementary signal to decide which pages to explore as a priority.
FAQ
Is a sitemap mandatory for SEO?
No, a sitemap is not mandatory but highly recommended. Google can discover your pages through links, but the sitemap accelerates the process and ensures that all important pages are known.
How many URLs can I put in a sitemap?
A sitemap file can contain up to 50,000 URLs and must not exceed 50 MB. For larger sites, use a sitemap index that points to multiple sitemap files.
What priority should I assign to my pages?
The homepage generally has a priority of 1.0. Category pages and main pages have 0.8. Blog articles have 0.6 and secondary pages 0.4. Priority is relative to your own site only.
Where to place the sitemap.xml file?
Place it at the root of your site: https://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Then indicate its URL in your robots.txt and submit it in Google Search Console.
How often should I update my sitemap?
Update your sitemap each time you add, modify, or remove important pages. CMS like WordPress do this automatically with SEO plugins.