sitemap.xml best practices

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What is a sitemap?

A sitemap.xml is an XML file listing the URLs you want crawlers to discover. Every major search engine and most AI crawlers use it as a starting point.

Format and limits

• Maximum 50,000 URLs per file
• Maximum 50MB uncompressed
• For larger sites, use a sitemap index that points to multiple sitemap files
• URLs should be absolute and under 2,048 characters
• Avoid duplicates — they waste crawl budget

Use lastmod properly

The element tells crawlers when a page changed. Setting it accurately helps bots prioritize fresh content. Only update it when the content actually changes — bumping it on every deploy makes it useless.

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