What Google actually reads in a sitemap file
The format
The protocol requires a urlset root element with the namespace, a url entry per page and a loc child in each entry. All other tags are optional. One sitemap can hold at most 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed, and larger sets must be split into several sitemaps. A sitemap index file lists multiple sitemaps and can itself list up to 50,000 sitemaps. Google asks for fully qualified absolute URLs in sitemaps and crawls them exactly as listed.
Tags Google uses and ignores
Google ignores the
priorityandchangefreqtags. Advice to tune them is out of date for Google.Google uses
lastmodonly when it is consistently and verifiably accurate.lastmodshould reflect the last significant change to the page, such as main content, structured data or links, not a copyright-year update.
Scope and submission
Unless submitted in Search Console, a sitemap covers only URLs under its own directory, so Google recommends placing it at the site root. Google has retired the sitemap ping endpoint, so advice to ping Google is outdated. Submit sitemaps through Search Console or a robots.txt sitemap line instead, with a fully qualified URL.
When a sitemap helps, and what it cannot replace
Small sites. Google says a well-linked site of about 500 pages or fewer might not need a sitemap. That threshold is Google guidance, not a protocol rule.
Internal links. Google says a sitemap helps but does not replace a crawlable link architecture. When linking to every page is not possible, Google suggests a sitemap or a Google Merchant Center feed to expose pages a crawler would not otherwise find.
Duplicates. A sitemap should list only the preferred (canonical) URL when the same content is reachable at several URLs. For Google, sitemap inclusion is a weaker canonical signal than
rel="canonical".Submission. Submitting a sitemap is only a hint, and Google may not even download it.
For moving to a new platform, see the step-by-step CMS migration guide; for sitemaps and redirects during a domain change, see domain migration without losing SEO.
Sitemaps in Pagepro migrations
Pagepro uses the old and new sitemaps as one source for the redirect map, next to a crawl and Search Console exports, because a sitemap alone misses URLs. It pairs the map with a redirect manager in Sanity that content editors run, so SEO fixes need no developer.
Sources
- What Is a SitemapGoogle · developers.google.com
- In-Depth Guide to How Google Search WorksGoogle · developers.google.com
- sitemaps.org - Protocolsitemaps.org · sitemaps.org
- Build and submit a sitemapGoogle · developers.google.com
- Sitemaps ping endpoint is going awayGoogle · developers.google.com
- How Google interprets the robots.txt specificationGoogle · developers.google.com
- Importance of link architecture (Google Search Central Blog, 2008)Google · developers.google.com
- Help Google understand your ecommerce website structureGoogle · developers.google.com
- How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methodsGoogle · developers.google.com