--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
drafting spec…
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: sitemap.xml type: artifact status: running version: 0.9.0 released: 2005-11-16 maintainer: sitemaps.org (community fork of Google initiative) dependencies: - XML - HTTP - robots.txt - crawl budget license: Public Domain (Sitemaps Protocol) tags: - web - SEO - indexing - infrastructure - ignored by everyone ---
A polite letter to search engines listing every page on your site, which they will read, acknowledge, and then do whatever they were already going to do anyway.
<lastmod>, <changefreq>, and <priority>.The protocol is XML-based, which means it was designed in a specific era with specific values. Those values included angle brackets and optimism.
<loc>: the URL. The one thing that actually matters.<lastmod>: a timestamp. Treated as advisory, not binding.<changefreq>: a suggestion. Documented as "may" be used. It is not used.<priority>: a float from 0.0 to 1.0. Everyone sets everything to 1.0. Renders useless.<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2024-01-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq> <!-- read: never -->
<priority>1.0</priority> <!-- read: same as everyone else -->
</url>
</urlset>
Note: Submitting this file to Google Search Console does not guarantee indexing. It guarantees Google knows what you want. These are different things.
noindex directive. Contradictions compiled successfully.Does submitting a sitemap improve my rankings? No. It improves crawl efficiency, which may eventually affect rankings, in the way that organizing your desk may eventually affect your productivity.
Should I include every URL? Only canonical, indexable URLs. Not paginated variants, not filtered query strings, not the staging environment you accidentally made public.
What if I have a million pages? Use a sitemap index file. Then reconsider why you have a million pages.
Is changefreq worth setting? It is worth setting in the same way that a polite voicemail is worth leaving. Technically correct behavior. Functionally irrelevant.
| Version | Note |
|---|---|
| 0.9.0 | Current protocol version. Has been 0.9 since 2005. |
| 0.84 | Yahoo extension era. Yahoo no longer relevant. |
| Initial | Google, Yahoo, Microsoft agree on a format. A rare moment. |