Combine multiple XML sitemaps into a single index file. Perfect for large websites with thousands of pages to ensure search engines crawl everything.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <!-- Your sitemaps will appear here --> </sitemapindex>
As your website grows, managing your SEO becomes increasingly complex. Search engines like Google have strict limits on individual XML sitemaps: they cannot exceed 50,000 URLs or 50MB in size. If your site surpasses these limits, you must split your URLs into multiple sitemaps. This is where the need to create sitemap index file xml arises. A sitemap index acts as a "master file" that tells search engines where all your individual sitemap files are located.
Using a sitemap index isn't just about bypassing limits; it's about organization and crawl efficiency. By grouping sitemaps by category (e.g., posts, pages, products, or images), you can monitor indexing issues more effectively in Google Search Console. For instance, if you notice your "products" sitemap has low coverage, you can focus your SEO efforts there without sifting through thousands of blog post URLs.
Our tool simplifies this process. Instead of manually coding XML, you can simply paste your sitemap URLs and generate a valid index file in seconds. This ensures your canonical URLs are discovered and indexed correctly across your entire domain.
Generating your index file is a straightforward three-step process:
<lastmod> tag to signal to search engines when the index was last updated.sitemap_index.xml in your root directory.Once uploaded, don't forget to validate your file using a Sitemap Validator to ensure there are no syntax errors that could hinder crawling.
To maximize the effectiveness of your sitemap index, follow these expert tips:
Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml to your robots.txt file. You can check your file with our Robots.txt Validator.A well-structured sitemap index is the backbone of a large website's technical SEO. It streamlines the discovery process for search engine bots and provides a clear map of your site's architecture. Use our free tool to create sitemap index file xml today and take control of your site's crawlability.
A sitemap contains a list of actual page URLs on your site. A sitemap index is a file that contains a list of other sitemaps. Think of the index as a folder and the sitemaps as the documents inside it.
Google doesn't "prefer" one over the other for small sites, but for large sites, a sitemap index is mandatory if you exceed 50,000 URLs. It also helps Googlebot understand your site structure better.
Yes, absolutely. You can include any valid XML sitemap (standard, image, video, or news) within a sitemap index file.