What is an XML sitemap? Creation, submission, and correct lastmod use

An XML sitemap is a list that informs search engines, in a single file, of the addresses of important pages on a website and information such as when those pages were last significantly updated. Google uses this file as a hint for discovering pages; inclusion in the list does not mean that a page will be crawled or indexed.

This article explains the concept based on Google Search Central documentation, then moves on to implementation: which websites really need a sitemap, the file’s structure, correct use of the lastmod field, the built-in sitemap introduced with WordPress 5.5, sitemaps generated by SEO plugins, pages that should and should not be included, and submission to Search Console.

What does a sitemap do?

A sitemap helps search engines discover addresses on a website more efficiently and tells them which pages the website owner considers important. Googlebot mostly finds pages by following links; the sitemap is a second channel that complements this discovery.

The information a sitemap can carry is not limited to addresses. Additional information, such as the date of the page’s last significant update, language versions, images and videos on the page, or the publication date of news content, can also be added using appropriate extensions. However, Google’s documentation on building and submitting a sitemap is clear: submitting a sitemap is a hint, and there is no guarantee that Google will download the sitemap or crawl the addresses it contains.

For this reason, a sitemap is not a remedy for weak internal links or low-quality pages. A page receiving no links from anywhere in the menu or content can be discovered by adding it to the sitemap, but being disconnected from the rest of the website continues to make that page harder to evaluate.

Does every website need a sitemap?

It is not mandatory for every website; Google states that small websites with properly interconnected pages can generally be discovered without a sitemap. In Google’s description, a “small website” is one with approximately 500 or fewer pages intended to appear in search results. Even so, the same documentation emphasizes that using a sitemap is beneficial in most cases.

Situations in which a sitemap is particularly useful are as follows:

• Large websites: it becomes harder to make sure every page receives a link from at least one other page; new pages may be overlooked.
• New websites: on a website with few external links, Googlebot may be slow to discover pages through links.
• Websites containing rich media: websites hosting numerous videos and images or publishing news can communicate additional information about this content through a sitemap.
• Frequently updated catalogs: ecommerce websites whose products change continuously can announce new and updated pages more quickly through a sitemap.

For websites using WordPress, Wix, or a similar content management system, a sitemap is most likely already being generated. The main task is often to check that the existing sitemap contains the correct pages and has been submitted to Search Console, rather than creating a new sitemap.

Sitemap formats: XML, RSS, and text

Google accepts three types of sitemap formats: XML, RSS/mRSS/Atom feeds, and plain text files. XML is the most versatile; only this format can carry additional information such as images, videos, news, and language versions through extensions.

In practice, because XML sitemaps are generated automatically in WordPress and similar systems, other formats are rarely used on their own. An RSS feed can be submitted in addition to the XML sitemap to announce new posts quickly.

What is the structure of an XML sitemap?

From a technical perspective, the answer to what an XML sitemap is is this: a UTF-8 encoded file containing a url element for each page and at least a loc (address) tag within that element. A simple example with two pages looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/hizmetler/</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-11-02</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/iletisim/</loc>
  </url>
</urlset>

The main rules in Google’s documentation are as follows: addresses are written in full, absolute form (https://www.example.com/iletisim/, not /iletisim/); a single sitemap can contain a maximum of 50 MB (uncompressed) or 50,000 addresses, and larger websites split the sitemap and combine it with an index file. The sitemap can be located anywhere on the website, but unless submitted through Search Console, it only affects addresses below the folder where it is located; the root directory is therefore recommended.

The priority and changefreq tags frequently recommended in older guides are ignored by Google. Filling in these fields does no harm but has no effect from Google’s perspective either; spending that time keeping the lastmod value accurate is more meaningful.