What an XML sitemap is for
An XML sitemap is a structured list of the URLs you want search engines to crawl. It will not guarantee indexing, but it helps Google discover your pages faster - especially on newer sites, large sites, or pages that are not well linked internally.
Each entry can include a last-modified date, a change frequency, and a priority. These are hints rather than commands, but a clean, accurate sitemap makes your site easier to crawl and is one of the simplest technical-SEO wins available.
What does an XML sitemap look like?
A sitemap is a plain XML file. Each page is a <url> entry with a location and optional hints. A minimal valid example looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-06-22</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
</urlset>The priority value (0.0-1.0) and changefreq are hints, not commands - Google largely relies on lastmod and its own judgement, so keep dates accurate and do not obsess over priority.
Sitemaps on WordPress and other platforms
Many platforms generate a sitemap for you: WordPress (via Yoast or its built-in feature), Shopify, and frameworks like Next.js all produce one automatically at a path such as /sitemap.xml. This tool is ideal when you need a one-off sitemap, a static-site sitemap, or a custom list of specific URLs to submit - just paste the URLs and go.
How to use this tool
Paste your URLs one per line - only valid http and https links are included. Choose a change frequency and priority, decide whether to stamp today's date as last-modified, then copy or download the resulting sitemap.xml. Upload it to your site root and submit the URL in Google Search Console.
Keep your sitemap growing
A sitemap is only as valuable as the pages in it. Soro publishes optimised content continuously, so there is always something new and rank-worthy for crawlers to find. Pair this with our robots.txt generator to declare the sitemap automatically.