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XML Sitemap Generator

A sitemap.xml for your site, ready to upload.

How to use the XML Sitemap Creator, step by step

Real screenshots of the current tool, using sample inputs. Long results are shown as a preview.

  1. 1

    Add your input

    Paste or type into the field XML Sitemap Creator works from.

    XML Sitemap Generator in its default state before the walkthrough
  2. 2

    A page URL in place

    With a page URL entered, XML Sitemap Creator is ready to run.

    XML Sitemap Generator with sample input or settings in place
  3. 3

    Review the result

    Select Generate Sitemap to run the tool. This screenshot shows the result returned for the sample input.

    XML Sitemap Generator showing its actual result with sample inputs
120K+
Sitemaps generated
10,000
URLs per crawl
4.6
G2 rating
4.8
Trustpilot
Visual Walkthrough

How to use the XML Sitemap Generator

Four steps, under 30 seconds. See exactly what each screen looks like before you start.

1

Paste your website URL

Drop your homepage into the URL field. We'll crawl internal links up to the depth you choose.

grigora.co/tools/xml-sitemap-creator

XML Sitemap Generator

Crawl and generate sitemap.xml in seconds

Website URL
▋https://example.com
2

Configure crawl options

Set max URLs (5–10,000) and crawl depth. Advanced options let you filter paths, set lastmod, priority, and changefreq.

grigora.co/tools/xml-sitemap-creator
Max URLs
500 URLs
Crawl depth
3 levels
Advanced Options
Last mod
Priority
Change freq
3

Generate & review

Click Generate. Watch live as we crawl and format valid XML. Review the tree preview and health score before downloading.

grigora.co/tools/xml-sitemap-creator
Crawling 47 / 500 URLs...
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<urlset xmlns="...">
<url>
<loc>example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-04-18</lastmod>
</url>
4

Download & submit to Google

One-click download sitemap.xml. Upload to your site root (yoursite.com/sitemap.xml) and submit in Google Search Console for faster indexing.

grigora.co/tools/xml-sitemap-creator
sitemap.xml
487 URLs · 82 KB
Ready to submit to Search Console
Original Research

What we learned from 120,000 sitemaps

Data from every sitemap generated on Grigora, patterns you won't see anywhere else.

73%

of sitemaps are missing lastmod

The #1 reason Google doesn't recrawl quickly. Our generator adds it automatically.

184

median URLs per small-business site

Most sites fit comfortably in one sitemap file. No index needed until 50K.

14 days

avg. time to first-index after sitemap submission

Down from 30+ days without a sitemap. Fresh lastmod cuts this to under 7 days.

12%

of sitemaps contain 404 URLs

Silent killer for crawl budget. Always audit before submission.

2.3x

faster indexing with IndexNow ping

Bing + Yandex respond in hours. Grigora pings on every publish automatically.

3.8%

of sites have an image sitemap

Huge missed opportunity for visual SEO. Auto-included on Grigora sites.

Framework-specific

Install the sitemap on your stack

Pick your framework and copy the exact code. Works for static and dynamic sites.

Next.js
// app/sitemap.ts, Next 13+ App Router
export default async function sitemap() {
  const posts = await fetchPosts();
  return [
    { url: 'https://site.com', lastModified: new Date(), priority: 1 },
    ...posts.map(p => ({
      url: `https://site.com/blog/${p.slug}`,
      lastModified: p.updatedAt,
      priority: 0.7,
    })),
  ];
}

💡 Place in your /app directory. Next auto-serves it at /sitemap.xml on build.

6 types of sitemaps, know which you need

Most sites need only the standard URL sitemap. But if you have images, videos, news, or 50K+ URLs, pick the right flavor.

Standard URL sitemap

Lists all crawlable pages with lastmod, changefreq, priority. The baseline every site needs.

<url><loc>https://example.com/about</loc><lastmod>2026-04-18</lastmod></url>

Image sitemap

Extends URL sitemap with <image:image> tags so Google Images indexes your visuals faster.

<url>...<image:image><image:loc>.../hero.jpg</image:loc></image:image></url>

Video sitemap

Uses <video:video> to describe embedded videos. Critical for video search results.

<video:video><video:content_loc>...</video:content_loc></video:video>

News sitemap

For publishers in Google News. Uses <news:news> and requires articles from the last 48 hours.

<news:news><news:publication_date>2026-04-18</news:publication_date></news:news>

Sitemap index

A parent sitemap that references multiple child sitemaps. Required past 50,000 URLs.

<sitemapindex><sitemap><loc>.../sitemap-posts.xml</loc></sitemap></sitemapindex>

RSS / Atom feeds

Not technically XML sitemaps, but Google accepts them as supplementary discovery signals for fresh content.

<feed><entry><link href="https://example.com/post"/></entry></feed>

8 sitemap errors that kill indexing

From Search Console logs across 120K+ generated sitemaps, these are the issues we see most often.

Sitemap not submitted to Search Console

high

Go to Search Console → Sitemaps, paste the full URL, click Submit. Check back in 24 hours: status should show "Success" with the URL count.

URLs returning 404 or 301 in sitemap

high

Every URL should return 200 OK. Remove redirected URLs (use the destination instead) and remove 404s. Google loses trust in a sitemap with dead URLs.

Missing lastmod dates

medium

Include an accurate <lastmod> for every URL in ISO 8601 format. Stale or missing lastmod means Google recrawls on its own schedule instead of prioritizing your fresh content.

Sitemap over 50 MB or 50,000 URLs

high

Split into multiple sitemaps (e.g., sitemap-posts.xml, sitemap-products.xml) and reference them in a sitemap_index.xml. Gzip large sitemaps.

Conflicting noindex pages in sitemap

high

Never include pages with <meta name="robots" content="noindex">. Google treats this as a contradictory signal. Remove noindex URLs from the sitemap.

Non-canonical URLs in sitemap

medium

Only list the canonical version of each URL. If you have /page and /page/ variants, pick one. Mixed signals dilute ranking and waste crawl budget.

Sitemap not referenced in robots.txt

low

Add "Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml" to your robots.txt. IndexNow-aware crawlers auto-discover sitemaps this way.

Including low-value URLs (tags, filters, search)

medium

Exclude URL parameters, tag archives, and internal search result pages. These dilute the sitemap and can trigger "Crawled: currently not indexed" status.

How we compare to XML-Sitemaps.com & Screaming Frog

The honest comparison.

FeatureGrigoraXML-SitemapsScreaming Frog
Crawl up to 10,000 URLsOnly 500 freeDesktop, 500 free
Sitemap Health Scorer
Visual sitemap tree previewLimited
Advanced filters (include/exclude)
No signup, no email, no watermarkRequires install
Browser-based (no install)
Framework install guides
Auto-maintained on every publishWith Grigora
AI Search Ready

Sitemaps still matter in the age of AI search

AI crawlers follow sitemaps too

OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, and ClaudeBot respect sitemap.xml the same way Googlebot does. If your content is in the sitemap, it is eligible for citation in AI answers.

Fresh lastmod = faster AI citations

AI engines prioritize recent content when answering time-sensitive queries. Accurate lastmod timestamps signal freshness.

Meet Grigora

Stop generating sitemaps manually.Build your whole site on Grigora.

Website, blog, and professional email, with SEO baked in. Auto-sitemaps, structured data, IndexNow pings. You focus on content; we handle the plumbing.

AI Website Builder

Describe your business, get a live website in 60 seconds. Sitemap auto-generated and auto-submitted on every publish.

Start building

Blog & CMS

Publish posts with Article schema, auto-sitemap entries, RSS feeds, and Google-ready metadata. Zero plugins.

Launch blog

Grigora Mail

Professional email on your domain (you@yoursite.com). SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured automatically.

Get email
Try Grigora free

No credit card · Start in 60 seconds

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Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about XML sitemaps and our generator.

An XML sitemap is a file listing every important URL on your site, along with metadata like last-modified date and priority. Search engines use it as a crawl hint, it tells Googlebot which pages exist, which are most important, and when they changed. Sites without sitemaps still get crawled, but new or deep pages often take weeks longer to be discovered. For any site with more than 50 pages, a sitemap is not optional.
Upload it to the root of your domain so it is accessible at https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Then add the line "Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml" to your robots.txt file, and submit the URL in Google Search Console → Sitemaps. Bing Webmaster Tools has the same option.
A single sitemap file can contain up to 50,000 URLs or be 50 MB uncompressed. Whichever comes first. For larger sites, split into multiple sitemaps and reference them in a sitemap index file. Our crawler caps at 10,000 URLs per run to keep responses fast, which covers 99% of small-to-mid-size sites.
lastmod is the date the page last changed. Google uses this heavily. changefreq is a hint about how often the page changes, Google largely ignores it now. priority is a 0.0–1.0 value suggesting relative importance, also mostly ignored by Google but still respected by Bing. Focus on accurate lastmod and a complete URL list.
Whenever you add, remove, or significantly change pages. For most sites, that means automatically on every deploy. Submitting a stale sitemap is worse than no sitemap because Google will waste crawl budget on dead URLs.
Yes, if they are central to your content. Image sitemaps use the <image:image> extension and help Google Images discover visuals. Video sitemaps use <video:video> and are essential for video SEO. Use Grigora's website builder to get these auto-generated with every publish.
No. A sitemap is a discovery signal, not an indexing command. Google still decides whether each page is worth indexing based on content quality, internal linking, duplicate checks, and perceived value.
Three common reasons: (1) depth limit. Our crawler follows links up to the depth you set; (2) nofollow or noindex meta tags block inclusion; (3) JavaScript-rendered links are not always followed. Increase max depth and remove nofollow where appropriate.
A sitemap index is a parent sitemap that references multiple child sitemaps. Use it when you exceed 50,000 URLs, when you have distinct content types (blog + products + docs) that change at different rates.
Yes, the free tool has no signup or usage limits. For agency workflows, Grigora's website builder automatically generates and maintains a valid sitemap for every site you build, updating on every publish.
The XML Sitemap Generator is free with no signup. It is part of the Grigora tools suite designed to attract people who need SEO help and introduce them to the Grigora website builder and blog platform. No email required, no watermark.
Yes. Every site built on Grigora ships with an auto-generated sitemap.xml that updates on every publish, pings Google and Bing via IndexNow, and splits into a sitemap index when you cross 50,000 URLs.

Tired of regenerating sitemaps?

Grigora auto-maintains your sitemap on every publish, plus auto-submission to Google.

Try Grigora free
4.6 on G2 4.8 on Trustpilot

Skip manual sitemaps.

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