🗺️ XML Sitemap Generator
By ToolNimba SEO Team · Updated 2026-06-19
Full URLs including https://. Blank lines and duplicates are ignored.
Last modified date in W3C format.
A hint, not a command, to crawlers.
Relative weight from 0.0 to 1.0.
Paste your URLs above to build a valid sitemap.xml file.
This XML sitemap generator turns a plain list of URLs into a valid sitemap.xml file that search engines can read. Paste one URL per line, choose whether to include a lastmod date and default changefreq and priority values, and the tool builds the urlset and url entries for you. Ampersands and other reserved characters are escaped automatically, so the file stays well-formed. Copy the result or download it as sitemap.xml, then upload it to your site root and submit it in Google Search Console.
What is the XML Sitemap Generator?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site you want search engines to know about. It does not control rankings, and it is not a guarantee that every listed page will be indexed, but it does help crawlers discover URLs they might otherwise miss, especially on large sites, new sites, or sites with thin internal linking. Each entry sits inside a url element, with the address itself in a loc element. The whole list is wrapped in a single urlset element that declares the sitemap protocol namespace.
Beyond the required loc, the protocol allows three optional child tags. The lastmod tag records when the page last changed, in W3C date format such as 2026-06-19. The changefreq tag hints at how often the page changes, using values like daily, weekly or monthly. The priority tag gives a relative weight from 0.0 to 1.0 that compares pages within your own site. Google has said it largely ignores changefreq and priority and pays most attention to lastmod when it is accurate, so treat those two as optional hints rather than levers.
Validity matters more than size. The XML must be UTF-8 encoded and any reserved character in a URL has to be escaped: an ampersand becomes the escaped form, and the same applies to less-than, greater-than, quote and apostrophe characters. A query string like search?q=shoes&sort=price is a common source of broken sitemaps because the raw ampersand makes the file malformed. This generator escapes those characters for you. A single sitemap may hold up to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed; past that you split into multiple sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index file.
When to use it
- Creating a first sitemap.xml for a small static site or a new blog so search engines can find every page.
- Turning a crawl export or a hand-written list of important URLs into a submittable sitemap in seconds.
- Building a clean sitemap for a site whose CMS does not produce one, or whose generated one is missing pages.
- Producing a focused sitemap of just the pages you most want indexed, such as product or landing pages.
How to use the XML Sitemap Generator
- Paste your page URLs into the box, one full URL per line (include the https:// prefix).
- Choose whether to add a lastmod date of today, or omit it.
- Pick a default changefreq and priority, or set either to Omit to leave it out.
- Review the generated sitemap.xml, then copy it or click Download to save the file.
- Upload sitemap.xml to your site root and submit its URL in Google Search Console.
Formula & method
Worked examples
You have two pages and want lastmod set to today (2026-06-19) with weekly changefreq and 0.5 priority.
- Paste https://example.com/ and https://example.com/about on separate lines.
- Each line is wrapped in a url element with a loc child holding the address.
- Because lastmod is set to today, a lastmod of 2026-06-19 is added to each entry.
- The chosen changefreq weekly and priority 0.5 are added as child tags.
- All entries sit inside one urlset element with the sitemap protocol namespace.
Result: A valid sitemap.xml with two url entries, each carrying loc, lastmod, changefreq and priority.
One of your URLs has a query string with an ampersand: https://example.com/search?q=shoes&sort=price.
- The raw ampersand would make the XML malformed if left as is.
- The generator replaces the ampersand with its escaped entity (the letters amp wrapped in an ampersand and a semicolon) inside the loc tag.
- In the saved file the address keeps every original character, with only that single ampersand rewritten to its escaped entity form.
- A browser or validator reads the escaped form back as the original single ampersand.
Result: The URL is preserved exactly while the file stays well-formed and passes validation.
XML sitemap tags and what they mean
| Tag | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| loc | Yes | The full page URL, escaped if it contains reserved characters. |
| lastmod | No | Date the page last changed, in W3C format such as 2026-06-19. |
| changefreq | No | Hint at how often the page changes (daily, weekly, monthly). |
| priority | No | Relative weight 0.0 to 1.0 comparing pages within your own site. |
Sitemap limits and key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Max URLs per sitemap | 50,000 |
| Max uncompressed size | 50 MB |
| Encoding | UTF-8 |
| Larger sites | Split into multiple sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Leaving raw ampersands in URLs. A query string like ?a=1&b=2 contains a literal ampersand that makes the XML malformed. It must be escaped to its entity form. This tool does that for you, so paste the real URLs and let it handle the escaping.
- Listing pages you block or do not want indexed. A sitemap should list canonical, indexable pages that return a 200 status. Including pages blocked by robots.txt, marked noindex, or that redirect sends mixed signals and can trigger warnings in Search Console.
- Trusting changefreq and priority too much. Google has said it largely ignores these two tags. They are hints, not commands, and setting every page to priority 1.0 achieves nothing. Accurate lastmod dates are far more useful than inflated priority values.
- Forgetting to submit or reference the sitemap. Creating the file is only half the job. Upload it to your site root, add a Sitemap line to robots.txt, and submit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console so crawlers actually find it.
Glossary
- Sitemap
- An XML file listing the pages on a site that the owner wants search engines to discover and crawl.
- urlset
- The root XML element that wraps every url entry and declares the sitemap protocol namespace.
- loc
- The child tag holding the full address of a single page, the only required field per entry.
- lastmod
- The optional date a page last changed, written in W3C format such as 2026-06-19.
- changefreq
- An optional hint at how often a page changes, using values like daily, weekly or monthly.
- priority
- An optional relative weight from 0.0 to 1.0 comparing the importance of pages within the same site.
Frequently asked questions
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs on your site you want search engines to know about. Each page sits in a url element with its address in a loc tag, and the whole list is wrapped in a urlset element. It helps crawlers discover pages, but it does not control rankings or guarantee indexing.
Where do I put the sitemap.xml file?
Upload it to the root of your domain so it lives at a URL like https://example.com/sitemap.xml. You should also add a line such as Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml to your robots.txt, and submit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console.
Do I need lastmod, changefreq and priority?
No, only the loc URL is required. The other three are optional. Google pays attention to an accurate lastmod but has said it largely ignores changefreq and priority, so treat those two as hints rather than ranking controls.
How many URLs can one sitemap hold?
A single sitemap can contain up to 50,000 URLs and must be no larger than 50 MB uncompressed. If your site is bigger, split the URLs across several sitemaps and list those files in a sitemap index file.
Why does the tool escape ampersands in my URLs?
A raw ampersand is a reserved character in XML and would make the file malformed. The generator replaces it with its entity form inside the loc tag, so a URL like ?q=shoes&sort=price stays valid while still pointing to the same page.
Is my list of URLs sent anywhere?
No. The whole tool runs in your browser using plain JavaScript. Your URLs are never uploaded to a server, and the copy and download both work entirely offline once the page has loaded.