A sitemap is a file that tells search engines the important URLs on your website. URL (Uniform Resource Locator) means the address of an individual web page. The most common format is an XML sitemap (XML means Extensible Markup Language), such as https://example.fi/sitemap.xml. It helps Google discover pages, but it does not guarantee indexing or good rankings.

A sitemap makes sense even for a small business website because maintaining it can be almost entirely automated.

What does a sitemap look like?

A simple XML sitemap might look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.fi/</loc>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.fi/services/</loc>
  </url>
</urlset>

Visitors do not normally need to open this file. It is primarily for search engines and the people maintaining the site.

Which URLs should go in a sitemap?

Google recommends listing the addresses you want to see in search results.

A good sitemap includes:

  • preferred canonical URLs: the addresses you consider the main versions of identical or very similar content
  • public service pages
  • the homepage
  • indexable guides and articles
  • other pages intended to appear in search results

A sitemap is not a place for every technical URL.

What should usually stay out?

Avoid including:

  • noindex pages
  • thank-you and confirmation pages you do not want in search
  • test pages
  • broken URLs
  • old addresses that redirect
  • unnecessary duplicates

Your sitemap and the site's other indexing instructions should agree.

Do you need lastmod dates?

A sitemap can include the date of a page's last significant change.

Use this only if the date is accurate and changes when the content actually changes. A date that automatically changes every day tells a search engine nothing useful.

How does Google find the sitemap?

There are several ways to tell Google about it.

Two common ones are:

Robots.txt

The file can contain a line such as:

Sitemap: https://example.fi/sitemap.xml

Google Search Console

You can submit the sitemap in Search Console's Sitemaps view. Afterwards, you can see whether Google fetched it successfully and whether there were processing errors.

Must you resubmit the sitemap after every article?

Usually not, if the same sitemap address updates automatically and Google already knows it.

When a new article is added to the XML file, the search engine can discover the change on its next visit.

You can also inspect an especially important new page with Search Console's URL Inspection tool.

Does a sitemap replace internal links?

No.

Google uses links to discover new pages and understand the site's structure. An important page should have a normal internal link from elsewhere on the site, even if it is in the sitemap.

Use both:

internal links for people and search engines + a sitemap to help discover URLs.

Do you need a separate HTML sitemap?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the markup language that describes a web page's structure. An HTML sitemap is an ordinary page for visitors that collects the site's important links in one place.

An XML sitemap and a visitor-facing HTML sitemap are different things.

A small, clearly organised website does not usually need a separate HTML sitemap if its menu, guide index and internal links work well.

How does GC handle sitemaps?

GC's website service includes a sitemap and technical indexing settings. When indexable pages are added, they need to appear in the sitemap with the correct canonical addresses.

See also how to get your website on Google and what robots.txt is.

Source: Google Search Central, Build and Submit a Sitemap.