Sitemap - What, How and Why?
How is Google supposed to know that all your pages exist if you don’t give it a map? A sitemap works just like a road map or a table of contents for your website. It tells search engines which pages exist, how they relate to each other, and which ones you want to be indexed. For small websites with only a few pages, Google can usually find most of the content on its own, but for larger or newly launched sites, a sitemap becomes essential. Without it, important pages risk remaining invisible in search results.
In this section, you’ll get a basic understanding of what a sitemap is, why it’s such a crucial part of technical SEO, and how you can easily create and upload one to Google.
What is a sitemap?
A sitemap is essentially a file that lists all the URLs you want search engines to know about. It acts as a clear instruction:
“Here are my pages, please index them.”
Most sitemaps are created in XML format because it’s easy for search engine crawlers to read. An XML sitemap not only includes page URLs but can also specify when a page was last updated and how important it is relative to others.
Imagine you run a blog with hundreds of posts. Without a sitemap, Google would have to follow every internal link to discover each article. If some posts lack internal links, they might never be found. With a sitemap, you can ensure even the more hidden pages are included in Google’s index (note: all pages should still be internally linked, even if there are a few exceptions).
🔍 Have you ever wondered how a page with no internal links can still be indexed by Google? The answer is often that it’s included in a sitemap.
Why should you have one?
Using a sitemap isn’t mandatory, but it provides clear SEO benefits. The biggest advantage is that it helps Google find and index your pages faster and more efficiently.
For new websites that don’t yet have many inbound links, a sitemap helps showcase all the content directly to search engines. For large websites with hundreds or thousands of pages, the sitemap makes it easier for Google to understand the overall structure. It becomes a kind of guidebook that helps prioritize which pages to crawl first.
Sitemaps are also particularly useful if you update your content frequently. By specifying when a page was last modified, you can signal to Google that there’s fresh material to review. This reduces the risk of outdated versions appearing in search results.
In short, a sitemap increases the likelihood that all your important pages become visible to your audience. However, it’s not a guarantee that every page will be indexed. A poorly optimized or low-value page will struggle to get indexed, regardless of whether it’s listed in a sitemap.
How to create and upload it
Creating a sitemap today is simple thanks to various tools and plugins. If you use a popular CMS like WordPress, there are several automatic solutions. Plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math generate an XML sitemap for you as soon as they’re installed. You just need to enable the feature, and the sitemap link is created instantly.
It’s usually found at a URL like: www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
If you don’t use WordPress or a plugin, you can use online tools that generate sitemaps based on your site’s structure. These tools scan your site and produce an XML file that you can manually upload to your server.
Upload it to GSC
Once you have your sitemap, the next step is to let Google know about it. This is done through Google Search Console (GSC). Log in, go to the “Sitemaps” menu, and enter the address of your XML file. Once submitted, Google will use the sitemap as a reference for crawling your site.
GSC notifies of any errors
Even though Google might find your sitemap through your site or robots.txt file, it’s highly recommended to upload it manually in Search Console. It’s the fastest way to inform Google about your site’s structure and new pages, which speeds up indexing. Search Console also provides valuable error reports and statistics to ensure your pages are indexed correctly.
A simple sitemap example:
<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url
<loc>https://www.example.se/</loc>
<lastmod>2025-09-01</lastmod
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/blog/article</loc>
<lastmod>2025-09-05</lastmod>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>
As you can see, it’s a simple list of URLs, complemented with information about when they were last modified and how important they are.
URLs to include in your sitemap
A sitemap works best when it’s well balanced. It’s not about listing every single page but about giving search engines a clear view of what truly matters. By selecting the right URLs, you help Google focus on the content that’s most relevant for your visitors and SEO strategy.
URLs to include:
🔵 Homepage
🔵 Category pages
🔵 Product or service pages
🔵 Blog posts or articles
🔵 Contact and about pages
URLs to exclude:
Not every page belongs in your sitemap. Some can do more harm than good if included, such as:
🔵 Duplicate pages (canonicals)
🔵 Thank-you pages
🔵 Test or development pages
🔵 Filter and sorting URLs in e-commerce
Pages that shouldn’t be indexed for any reason should not appear in your sitemap.
Practical tips for beginners
1️⃣ Create your first sitemap – Use a plugin like Yoast SEO in WordPress or a reliable online tool for other platforms.
2️⃣ Submit it to Google Search Console – Once it’s ready, submit the sitemap and check for any issues Google reports.
3️⃣ Monitor errors – Search Console shows if some URLs can’t be read. Fix problems quickly to ensure important content isn’t missed.
4️⃣ Choose the right pages – Include only pages valuable to users and that you want to rank. Exclude test, archive, or irrelevant pages.
5️⃣ Respect Google’s limits – A sitemap can contain up to 50,000 URLs or be up to 50 MB uncompressed. Large sites can split their sitemap into multiple files.
6️⃣ Use canonical tags correctly – Make sure the URLs in your sitemap are the canonical versions to avoid duplicates.
7️⃣ Correct placement – Place your sitemap in the root directory (e.g. https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml) so it covers your entire site.
8️⃣ Reference it in robots.txt – Add a line pointing to your sitemap in your robots.txt to make it easier for search engines to find.
Final thoughts on sitemaps
A sitemap is more than a technical detail. It’s a bridge between your website and Google, a clear signal of which content matters most. By understanding what a sitemap is, why it’s important, and how to create and submit one, you’re laying the groundwork for stronger technical SEO.
Your next step is simple:
Make sure your website has a working sitemap. Upload it to Google Search Console and confirm that everything functions correctly. The sooner you start using sitemaps, the sooner you can ensure all your important pages appear in search results.
Not sure how to proceed? Contact us – we’ll help you out.