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Manage your sitemaps with a sitemap index fileIf you have a sitemap that exceeds the size limits, you'll need to split up your large sitemap into multiple sitemaps such that each new sitemap is below the size limit. Once you've split up your sitemap, you can use a sitemap index file as a way to submit many sitemaps at once.
Sitemap index best practicesThe XML format of a sitemap index file is very similar to the XML format of a sitemap file, and it's defined by the Sitemap Protocol. This means that all the sitemap requirements apply to sitemap index files also.
The referenced sitemaps must be hosted on the same site as your sitemap index file. This requirement is waived if you set up cross-site submission.
Sitemaps that are referenced in the sitemap index file must be in the same directory as the sitemap index file, or lower in the site hierarchy. For example, if the sitemap index file is at https://example.com/public/sitemap_index.xml, it can only contain sitemaps that are in the same or deeper directory, like https://example.com/public/shared/....
You can submit up to 500 sitemap index files for each site in your Search Console account.
Example sitemap indexThe following example shows a sitemap index in XML format that lists two sitemaps:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap1.xml.gz</loc>
<lastmod>2024-08-15</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap2.xml.gz</loc>
<lastmod>2022-06-05</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex> Sitemap index reference
The sitemap index tags are defined by the same namespace as generic sitemaps: http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9
To make sure Google can use your sitemap index, you must use the following required tags:
Required tagssitemapindex The root tag of the XML tree. It contains all the other tags. sitemap The parent tag for each sitemap listed in the file. It's the only direct child of the sitemapindex tag. loc The location (URL) of the sitemap. It's a child of the sitemap tag. A sitemap index file may have up to 50,000 loc tags.
Additionally, the following optional tags may help Google schedule your sitemaps for crawling:
Optional tagslastmod Identifies the time that the corresponding sitemap file was modified. It can be a child of a sitemap tag. The value for the lastmod tag must be in W3C Datetime format. Additional resources
Want to learn more? Check out the following resources:
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-03-06 UTC.
[[["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."],[[["A sitemap index file is used to submit multiple sitemaps to search engines, especially when a single sitemap exceeds the size limit."],["Sitemaps listed within the index file must reside on the same site (unless cross-site submission is configured) and be in the same directory or a lower subdirectory."],["You can submit up to 500 sitemap index files for each website registered in your Search Console account."],["Sitemap index files have a specific XML format, similar to sitemaps, and include required tags like `sitemapindex`, `sitemap`, and `loc`."],["Optional tags like `lastmod` can be added to indicate the last modification time of the sitemap file, aiding in crawl scheduling by search engines."]]],["When a sitemap exceeds size limits, split it into smaller sitemaps. Use a sitemap index file to manage and submit multiple sitemaps simultaneously. The sitemap index's XML format mirrors that of a sitemap and follows the Sitemap Protocol. Referenced sitemaps must be on the same site or lower in the directory, or use cross-site submission. A sitemap index can contain up to 50,000 `loc` tags, with `sitemapindex`, `sitemap`, and `loc` being required. Up to 500 sitemap indexes can be submitted per site.\n"]]
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