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XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that provides a list of major URLs of a site that search engines should discover in XML format. It does not guarantee indexing and is an auxiliary signal to help URL discovery. The principle is to include only representative canonical URLs and manage them as accessible URLs with a status code of 200 and URLs excluding noindex.

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XML sitemaps help search engines discover important URLs on your site. It is especially useful for large sites, sites where it is difficult to find all pages using internal links, and sites where new pages are created frequently.

Sitemaps do not guarantee indexing. URLs included in the sitemap may not be indexed depending on page quality, duplication, canonical, noindex, server status, etc. Therefore, a sitemap is a list that informs search engines, not a forced registration tool.

A good sitemap includes only representative URLs, accessible with a 200 status code, and excludes noindex pages or redirect URLs. It is best to manage the lastmod value accurately when a major change actually occurs.

Key takeaways

  • Helps search engines discover important URLs.
  • It does not guarantee indexing and is used as an auxiliary signal for crawling and indexing.
  • It is common to organize around canonical URLs, 200 status code URLs, and indexable URLs.
  • You can check the status of your submission and the number of URLs found in Search Console.

References

Frequently asked questions

Should I include every page in my sitemap?

No. It is best to exclude noindex pages, redirect URLs, and URLs with different canonical names. Inserting filter/parameter URLs with low search value can result in a waste of your crawling budget. Include only canonical URLs that are important and should be indexed.

How do I manage lastmod values?

It is updated only when there are substantive changes to the content (text modification, information addition). If you only change the date automatically, search engines may ignore this as a meaningless signal. Updating when real changes occur has a positive effect on recrawl prioritization.

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