XML Sitemap Generator

This online sitemap XML generator turns a live website crawl into a usable sitemap in three steps:

1. Enter your website URL. Enter your website's live URL, including http:// or https://.
2. Set your options (optional). Open Advanced Options to change the page limit, exclude URLs containing certain patterns, or adjust the crawl settings. When you are happy with them, click Generate Sitemap.
3. Choose your output. Export the result as XML for search engines, HTML for a visitor-friendly page list, or text for a simple URL file.

Tip: Before publishing a generated sitemap, confirm that the listed URLs are the preferred versions you want search engines to discover. 

What the Advanced Options Do

Open Advanced Options before crawling to control what the generator collects and what it writes into the file.

A note on changefreq and priority. Google ignores both values, as its documentation confirms. They are included because Bing and some other crawlers still read them, and because certain CMS and plugin imports expect the fields to be present. If you are optimising specifically for Google, these two settings will make no difference to how your sitemap is treated.

A note on lastmod. The generator reads the Last-Modified header your server returns, so the dates reflect what your server actually reports rather than the date you ran the crawl. That accuracy matters: Google only uses lastmod when a site reports it consistently and reliably, and ignores it entirely on sites that stamp every URL with the same date.  

The tool creates three outputs because each format serves a different job. You can generate XML sitemap files for crawlers and XML = search-engine sitemap; Text = URL list; HTML = human-readable page list.

Google supports XML, text & RSS/Atom sitemap formats. XML is the most versatile choice, while a text sitemap is limited to one URL per line. An HTML sitemap is primarily a human-facing navigation aid rather than the standard file submitted through Google Search Console. 

Google explains that sitemaps can help its systems crawl a site more efficiently, especially when a website is new, complex or contains pages that are not easy to reach through internal links  

• Help search engines discover URLs on your site.
• Provide a reviewed list of preferred page URLs after a launch, redesign or migration.
• Support discovery of newly added or deeply linked pages.
• Create a reusable URL list for technical SEO checks and site reviews.

A sitemap is not a ranking shortcut. Submitting one is a hint to search engines; it does not guarantee that every listed URL will be crawled, indexed or ranked. Strong internal links, accessible pages, useful content and correct canonical signals still matter.

1. Review the URLs. Confirm the file contains the complete, preferred HTTPS URLs you want associated with your site.
2. Remove any noindex URLs. The crawler collects pages it can reach, and does not check for noindex tags. If your site has pages set to noindex, delete those URLs from the file before submitting it. A sitemap that lists noindexed pages sends search engines a mixed signal.
3. Upload the XML file. A common location is the site root, such as https://example.com/sitemap.xml.
4. Test the public URL. Open the sitemap address in a browser and make sure it loads without a login, redirect loop or access error.
5. Submit it in Google Search Console. Open the Sitemaps report, enter the public sitemap URL and submit it.
6. Reference it in robots.txt. Add a line such as Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml so crawlers can locate the file.
7. Regenerate it after meaningful changes. Update the file when important pages are added, removed or moved.

Related tool: Create or validate your robots.txt file with Online Tool Pot.  

Use absolute URLs. List the complete address, including the protocol and domain, rather than relative paths.

Include preferred canonical URLs. Avoid listing multiple URL versions that show the same content when one canonical version should appear in search.

Keep the file public. Search engines must be able to access the sitemap without signing in.

Keep it current. A stale file can continue pointing crawlers toward deleted, redirected or outdated URLs.

Use accurate modification dates when available. Google says lastmod is useful only when it consistently reflects a significant page update, and that it ignores the value on sites where the dates are not reliable.  

Do not rely on priority or changefreq for Google. Google’s current documentation says it ignores these values.

Protocol note: A single sitemap can contain up to 50,000 URLs or reach 50 MB uncompressed under Google’s documented limits. This Online Tool Pot crawler has a separate 300-page limit, making it best suited to small and medium-sized crawl jobs.

Use the generator when you need a quick crawl-based sitemap without installing a plugin or writing XML manually. It is suitable for:

• Small-business and portfolio websites with up to 300 crawlable pages.
• New websites preparing for Search Console submission.
• Developers checking a site after launch, migration or URL changes.
• SEO specialists who need XML, HTML and text versions of the discovered page list.
• Site owners whose CMS sitemap needs a quick independent comparison.

Use It to Audit Your CMS Sitemap

If your site already generates a sitemap through WordPress, Yoast, Shopify or a similar plugin, this tool gives you a second, independent list to compare it against. That comparison catches problems a CMS sitemap will not report on itself:

• Pages your CMS omits from its sitemap but that are reachable through internal links

• URLs the crawler finds that you did not expect to be public

• Parameter or duplicate versions appearing alongside canonical URLs

• Sections that became unreachable after a redesign or migration

Crawl your site, export the text output for the plainest list, and diff it against your existing sitemap.xml. Anything that appears in one and not the other is worth a look.