A sitemap is a file that provides information about the pages, videos, images, and other content on a website. It helps search engines like Google or Bing better understand the structure of the site and efficiently crawl and index its content. Sitemaps are especially useful for large websites, newly created sites with few backlinks, or sites using rich media content and dynamic pages.
There are two main types of sitemaps:
- XML Sitemap Intended for search engines. It lists URLs on the site, along with optional metadata like the date of last update, how often the page changes, and the priority of the page relative to others.
- HTML Sitemap Intended for human visitors. It is a navigational page with links to the important pages of a website, improving user experience.
Example of an XML Sitemap:
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<urlset xmlns=”https://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2025-05-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>daily</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2025-04-28</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>