XML Sitemap
A file that lists all the important URLs on a website to help search engines discover and crawl content.
Full definition
An XML sitemap is a file (typically located at /sitemap.xml) that provides search engines with a structured list of all the pages on a website that should be crawled and indexed. It acts as a roadmap, helping Google discover new or updated pages more quickly — especially useful for large sites with many pages or new sites with few external links. Sitemaps can include metadata about each URL: when it was last modified, how frequently it changes, and its priority relative to other pages on the site. The sitemap should be submitted to Google Search Console to accelerate discovery. Sitemaps don't guarantee indexing — Google still evaluates each page on its merits.
Real-world example
A news website automatically generates a separate news sitemap containing all articles published in the past 48 hours, helping Google News discover and index breaking stories within minutes of publication.
Related terms
The ability of search engine bots to access and crawl a website's pages.
Read definitionThe number of pages Googlebot will crawl on your website within a given timeframe.
Read definitionGoogle's database of web pages that have been crawled and stored for retrieval in search results.
Read definitionOptimisations to a website's infrastructure that help search engines crawl, index, and understand it.
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