Sitemap

What sitemaps provide

Sitemaps help search engines discover all your pages, especially on larger sites or pages not heavily linked internally. The XML format lists URLs with optional metadata: last modification date, update frequency hints, and priority indicators.

While search engines can discover pages through internal links, sitemaps ensure nothing gets missed. New pages added to the sitemap get crawled faster than waiting for natural discovery through link following.

Sitemap structure

XML sitemaps list each URL with optional tags: <loc> (the URL), <lastmod> (last modification date), <changefreq> (update frequency), and <priority> (relative importance, 0.0-1.0).

Sitemaps can include up to 50,000 URLs and must be under 50MB uncompressed. Larger sites need sitemap index files referencing multiple smaller sitemaps.

Submitting sitemaps

Submit sitemaps through Google Search Console for faster discovery. Reference your sitemap in robots.txt—search engines check this file and follow sitemap directives.

After site updates, resubmit your sitemap or use Search Console's URL inspection tool to request indexing of specific pages. This accelerates discovery of new or updated content.

What belongs in sitemaps

Include all public-facing, indexable content. Exclude admin pages, thank-you pages, or content blocked by noindex tags. Only list URLs you want indexed—sitemaps aren't for comprehensive site documentation.

Ensure sitemap URLs match canonical versions. If your canonical URLs use HTTPS with trailing slashes, your sitemap should too. Inconsistencies confuse crawlers.

Automatic sitemap generation

We generate XML sitemaps automatically during every build. Astro sites rebuild sitemaps with each deployment, ensuring they always reflect current content. We submit them to Search Console during launch setup.

This automation means you never manually maintain sitemaps. Add a page, it appears in the sitemap. Remove a page, it disappears. Sitemaps stay accurate without ongoing work.