How Should Sitemap XML Be?

The Sitemap XML file is critical for your website to be crawled and indexed correctly by search engines. A correctly structured sitemap allows search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex to understand and index your pages more effectively. In this article, we will explain step by step what sitemaps are, how to prepare them, their SEO effects, and professional tips.

What is Sitemap XML?

Sitemap XML is a file format that presents a list of all important URLs on your website, explains your site structure to search engines, and facilitates the crawling of your pages.

Basic Sitemap XML Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-04-28T12:00:00+03:00</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/about-us</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-04-20T12:00:00+03:00</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Elements That Should Be in the Sitemap XML Structure

Tag	Description	Importance
`<urlset>`	The container tag of the sitemap	Required
`<url>`	A URL block for each page	Required
`<loc>`	The full URL of the page	Required
`<lastmod>`	The last modification date of the page	Recommended
`<changefreq>`	The estimated update frequency of the page	Recommended
`<priority>`	The importance of the page (0.0 - 1.0)	Recommended

Rules to Consider When Preparing a Sitemap

Must be in UTF-8 format.
The maximum file size must be 50 MB or not exceed the limit of 50,000 URLs.
A sitemap index file should be used for larger sites.
Only indexable URLs should be included (noindex pages should not be included in the sitemap).
"Canonical URL" compliance should be checked.
URLs must be in absolute format (e.g., https://www.sitename.com/page).
Pages that return 200 OK and load quickly should be included.

Different Sitemap Types

Sitemap Type	Description	Purpose of Use
Standard Sitemap	Normal URL list	Web pages
Image Sitemap	Carries image URLs	Visual SEO
Video Sitemap	Lists video content	Video SEO
News Sitemap	Lists news for Google News	News sites

How to Cache and Submit a Sitemap?

Add to robots.txt file:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Introduce to Google Search Console:

Google Search Console > Sitemap menu > Enter your Sitemap URL and press the "Submit" button.

Add to Bing Webmaster Tools:

You can submit a sitemap in the Bing panel with similar steps.

Sitemap Example Content Recommendations

Page Type	lastmod	changefreq	priority
Homepage	Continuous	daily	1.0
Blog Posts	Publication date	weekly	0.8
About Us	When changed	monthly	0.5
Contact Page	Rare	yearly	0.3

Sitemap SEO Recommendations (Professional Advice)

Newly added pages should be automatically included in the sitemap.
Broken links (404) should be removed from the sitemap as soon as they are detected.
You can specify different language versions in the sitemap with the hreflang tag.
Mobile URLs can also be specified separately.
If the page content is "thin content," it is more accurate to exclude it from the sitemap.

Best Practices for Sitemap XML

Only add important and valuable pages.
Optimize page titles and meta descriptions.
Update sitemaps weekly or automatically.
Pay attention to the visible URL structure (keep it short and readable).

Conclusion

A correctly prepared sitemap XML directly affects your website's SEO performance. It is critical to create your sitemaps to professional standards so that search engines can better understand you and quickly index new content.