How to use the XML Sitemap Generator From URL List
- 1. Paste URLsOne full URL per line, from a crawl, CMS export or your own list.
- 2. Choose extrasAdd lastmod dates, and changefreq or priority if you want them.
- 3. UploadSave as sitemap.xml in your site root and submit it in Search Console.
Worked example
The five sample URLs become a sitemap with 5 URLs, each with today's date as lastmod. The last one contains an ampersand, search?q=python&sort=new, which XML requires to be written as &, so the tool escapes it; an unescaped ampersand is one of the most common reasons a sitemap fails to load. The tool also warns that this URL has a query string, because search result pages rarely belong in a sitemap.
Paste a URL from another domain and it is skipped with a note, because one sitemap should list one host. Duplicates and #fragments are removed.
What search engines use
- loc is the only required field: the full canonical URL.
- lastmod helps when it is accurate. Using today's date for every page on every upload can make search engines ignore it.
- changefreq and priority: Google says it ignores both. They are offered because some other tools still read them.
- Limits are 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file; larger sites use several files and a sitemap index.
A sitemap helps discovery; it does not force indexing. Include only URLs that return 200, are indexable and are canonical. Add Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml to robots.txt as well. Clean the URLs first with the canonical tag generator, and add language alternates with the hreflang tag generator.
Frequently asked questions
Can it crawl my site to find URLs?
No. Browsers cannot crawl other sites, so paste a list from your CMS, a crawler or Search Console.
Where do I upload sitemap.xml?
Usually in the site root, so it is at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Then submit that URL in Search Console.
Is the XML Sitemap Generator From URL List free?
Yes, the XML Sitemap Generator From URL List is free. The first time you generate your first sitemap, you are asked for your name and WhatsApp number once. After that, this and every other Uncodemy tool opens straight away without the form.