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Learn about sitemapsA 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:
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.
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.You might need a sitemap if:
You might not need a sitemap if:
If you decided that you need a sitemap, learn more about how to create one.
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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-03-06 UTC."],[[["A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 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."],["Sitemaps are particularly beneficial for large websites, new websites with few external links, and websites with rich media content like videos and images."],["While 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."],["Smaller websites (under 500 pages) with comprehensive internal linking and limited media content may not require a sitemap."],["If you determine your website needs a sitemap, resources are available to guide you through the creation process."]]],["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"]]
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