Sitemap.xml Best Practices
for AI
Create comprehensive sitemaps that help AI crawlers discover and index all your important content.
XML sitemaps serve as a roadmap for AI crawlers, helping them discover and understand your website's content structure. A well-structured sitemap can significantly improve how AI assistants find and recommend your content.
What You'll Learn
- XML sitemap structure and syntax
- Priority and frequency optimization
- Multi-sitemap strategies
- AI-specific sitemap considerations
Basic Sitemap Structure
A properly structured XML sitemap provides essential information about your content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://yourdomain.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-15T10:00:00Z</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://yourdomain.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-10T14:30:00Z</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://yourdomain.com/services</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-12T09:15:00Z</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>0.9</priority>
</url>
</urlset>Required Elements
- loc: The complete URL of the page
- lastmod: When the page was last modified
- changefreq: How often the page changes
- priority: Relative importance (0.0 to 1.0)
Priority and Frequency Optimization
Priority Guidelines
1.0: Homepage
0.9: Main service/product pages
0.8: Important category pages
0.7: Blog posts and articles
0.6: Secondary pages
0.5: Archive and tag pages
0.3: Legal pages (privacy, terms)
Change Frequency
always: Real-time content (news, stock prices)
hourly: Frequently updated content
daily: Blog posts, news articles
weekly: Regular content updates
monthly: Static pages with occasional updates
yearly: Rarely changed content
never: Archived content
AI-Specific Sitemap Considerations
Include AI-Relevant Content
- • FAQ pages and help documentation
- • Knowledge base articles
- • Tutorial and guide pages
- • Resource and tool pages
- • Contact and support pages
Optimize for AI Discovery
- • Use descriptive URLs in sitemap entries
- • Include content that answers common questions
- • Prioritize evergreen content
- • Ensure all important pages are included
Content Freshness
- • Update lastmod dates when content changes
- • Use appropriate changefreq values
- • Remove outdated or deleted pages
- • Regularly audit sitemap accuracy
Best Practices Summary
- •Keep sitemaps current: Update lastmod dates and remove outdated URLs
- •Use appropriate priorities: Reflect the actual importance of your pages
- •Include all important content: Don't miss pages that AI should discover
- •Organize with multiple sitemaps: Use sitemap index for large sites
- •Monitor performance: Track how sitemaps affect AI discovery