What a sitemap contains
Each entry gives the full URL of a page (the loc field) and, optionally, the date of its last significant change (the lastmod field). Google ignores the priority and changefreq fields that many plugins still output. It only uses lastmod when the date is consistently accurate: it should reflect a real update to the content, structured data or links, not a new copyright year in the footer.
A single file can hold up to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed. Beyond that, split it into several files tied together by a sitemap index, which you submit once.
Which URLs to include and exclude
Your sitemap should describe the version of your site you want indexed:
- Include: only canonical, indexable URLs that return a 200 status.
- Exclude: redirects, 404 pages, noindexed pages, parameter variants, internal search results, account pages.
- Split: one sitemap per content type (pages, posts, products) so you can track indexing for each segment in Search Console.
How to submit a sitemap
Most platforms generate the file for you: WordPress publishes /wp-sitemap.xml, replaced by /sitemap_index.xml when Yoast is installed, and Shopify publishes /sitemap.xml. Submit it in the Sitemaps report of Google Search Console and in Bing Webmaster Tools, then add a Sitemap line followed by the full URL to your robots.txt so other crawlers find it too.
Submitting is not indexing
A sitemap guarantees neither crawling nor indexing. For Google it is a weak signal among others when choosing canonical URLs. Its real value is diagnostic: if the report shows 800 URLs submitted and 300 indexed, you know a quality, duplication or crawling problem affects more than half of that segment.