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Learn about sitemaps
A sitemap is a file where you provide information about the pages, videos, and other
files on your site, and the relationships between them. Search engines like Google read this
file to crawl your site more efficiently. A sitemap tells search engines which pages and files you
think are important in your site, and also provides valuable information about these files.
For example, when the page was last updated and any alternate language versions of the page.
You can use a sitemap to provide information about specific types of content on your pages,
including video,
image, and
news content. For example:
A sitemap video entry can specify the video running time, rating, and
age-appropriateness rating.
A sitemap image entry can include the location of the images included in a page.
A sitemap news entry can include the article title and publication date.
Do I need a sitemap?
If your site's pages are properly linked, Google can usually discover most of your site.
Proper linking means that all pages that you deem important can be reached through some form
of navigation, be that your site's menu or links that you placed on pages. Even so, a sitemap
can improve the crawling of larger or more complex sites, or more specialized files.
You might need a sitemap if:
Your site is large. Generally, on large sites it's more difficult to make sure that
every page is linked by at least one other page on the site. As a result, it's more likely
Googlebot might not discover some of your
new pages.
Your site is new and has few external links to it. Googlebot and other web
crawlers crawl the web by accessing URLs found in previously crawled pages. As a result,
Googlebot might not discover your pages if no other sites link to them.
Your site has a lot of rich media content (video, images) or is shown in Google News.
Google can take additional information from sitemaps into account for Search.
You might not need a sitemap if:
Your site is "small". By small, we mean about 500 pages or fewer on your site. Only
pages that you think need to be in search results count toward this total.
Your site is comprehensively linked internally. This means that Googlebot can
find all the important pages on your site by following links starting from the home page.
You don't have many media files (video, image) or news pages that you want to show in
search results. Sitemaps can help Google find and understand video and image files, or news
articles, on your site. If you don't need these results to appear in Search you might not
need a sitemap.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-03-06 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eA sitemap is a file that helps search engines like Google understand and crawl your website more efficiently by providing information about your pages, files, and their relationships.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSitemaps are particularly beneficial for large websites, new websites with few external links, and websites with rich media content like videos and images.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhile sitemaps aid search engine discovery, they do not guarantee indexing of all listed URLs; however, in most cases, having a sitemap is advantageous for your website.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSmaller websites (under 500 pages) with comprehensive internal linking and limited media content may not require a sitemap.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIf you determine your website needs a sitemap, resources are available to guide you through the creation process.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Sitemaps provide search engines with information about a website's pages, videos, and files, including their relationships, last update date, and language versions. They are beneficial for large, new sites, or those with rich media, improving crawl efficiency. Sitemaps can include video, image, or news-specific entries, detailing attributes like video duration or publication dates. However, if a site is small (under 500 pages), well-linked, or lacks media/news content, a sitemap may not be necessary.\n"],null,["Learn about sitemaps \n\n\nA *sitemap* is a file where you provide information about the pages, videos, and other\nfiles on your site, and the relationships between them. Search engines like Google read this\nfile to crawl your site more efficiently. A sitemap tells search engines which pages and files you\nthink are important in your site, and also provides valuable information about these files.\nFor example, when the page was last updated and any alternate language versions of the page.\n\n\nYou can use a sitemap to provide information about specific types of content on your pages,\nincluding [video](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/video-sitemaps),\n[image](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/image-sitemaps), and\n[news](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/news-sitemap) content. For example:\n\n- A sitemap *video entry* can specify the video running time, rating, and age-appropriateness rating.\n- A sitemap *image entry* can include the location of the images included in a page.\n- A sitemap *news entry* can include the article title and publication date.\n\n| If you're using a CMS such as WordPress, Wix, or Blogger, it's likely that your CMS has already [made a sitemap available to search engines](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap#cmssitemap) and you don't have to do anything.\n\nDo I need a sitemap?\n\n\nIf your site's pages are properly linked, Google can usually discover most of your site.\nProper linking means that all pages that you deem important can be reached through some form\nof navigation, be that your site's menu or links that you placed on pages. Even so, a sitemap\ncan improve the crawling of larger or more complex sites, or more specialized files.\n| A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs on your site, but it doesn't guarantee that all the items in your sitemap will be crawled and indexed. However, in most cases, your site will benefit from having a sitemap.\n\n**You might need a sitemap if:**\n\n- **Your site is large.** Generally, on large sites it's more difficult to make sure that every page is linked by at least one other page on the site. As a result, it's more likely [Googlebot](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot) might not discover some of your new pages.\n- **Your site is new and has few external links to it.** Googlebot and other web crawlers crawl the web by accessing URLs found in previously crawled pages. As a result, Googlebot might not discover your pages if no other sites link to them.\n- **Your site has a lot of rich media content (video, images) or is shown in Google News.** Google can take additional information from sitemaps into account for Search.\n\n**You might not need a sitemap if:**\n\n- **Your site is \"small\".** By small, we mean about 500 pages or fewer on your site. Only pages that you think need to be in search results count toward this total.\n- **Your site is comprehensively linked internally.** This means that Googlebot can find all the important pages on your site by following links starting from the home page.\n- **You don't have many media files (video, image) or news pages** that you want to show in search results. Sitemaps can help Google find and understand video and image files, or news articles, on your site. If you don't need these results to appear in Search you might not need a sitemap.\n\nBuild a sitemap\n\n\nIf you decided that you need a sitemap,\n[learn more about how to create one](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap)."]]
