Generate sitemap XML from a URL list

Each record requires an absolute HTTP or HTTPS URL and can also include a last modification date, change frequency, and relative priority. The generator validates the supplied values, escapes URL characters safely for XML, and returns a deterministic document ready to save, publish, test, or pass into another deployment step.

Prepare a precise URL inventory

Start with the canonical public URLs that search engines should be allowed to discover. Every record needs a complete address beginning with HTTP or HTTPS, including the hostname and the intended path. Relative paths such as <code>/products</code> are rejected because a sitemap reader cannot infer which origin they belong to. Include query strings only when those parameterized pages are canonical, useful search results in their own right; tracking variants usually do not belong in a sitemap. The generator preserves the submitted URL text and escapes XML-sensitive characters such as ampersands, so a query string remains meaningful without breaking the document. A single sitemap can contain up to 50,000 entries, matching the protocol limit. This tool deliberately does not crawl a domain, check whether pages respond, infer canonical links, or remove duplicates. That makes the input list authoritative and the result predictable. Build that list from your router, database, static-site output, or content inventory, and filter private, redirected, duplicate, blocked, or noncanonical pages before generating the file.

Use optional metadata honestly

Add <code>lastmod</code> only when you know when the page content last changed. It accepts a calendar date such as YYYY-MM-DD or an ISO 8601 timestamp with an explicit time zone. The value should describe the page itself, not the moment when you happened to run this generator. <code>changefreq</code> accepts the standard sitemap vocabulary: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or never. Search engines treat that field as a hint rather than a schedule, so choose a frequency that reflects real publishing behavior. <code>priority</code> is another optional hint, expressed as a finite number from zero through one. It compares URLs within your own site; it does not make your site more important than another domain and does not guarantee ranking or crawling. Omitting uncertain metadata is better than filling every element with invented defaults. The generator emits only the optional elements supplied for each record, keeping the XML concise while validating every included value before any result is returned.

Publish and maintain the generated document

The result contains the XML declaration, the official sitemap namespace, one URL element per input record, and a count that is useful in automation logs. Save the returned XML as <code>sitemap.xml</code> using UTF-8 encoding and serve it from a stable public location, commonly at the root of the relevant site. You can reference that location from robots.txt and submit it through the search-engine tools you use. Generation is deterministic: identical input produces identical output, with no network request, current-time lookup, random ordering, or hidden normalization. That property makes the capability suitable for builds and deployment pipelines because version-control diffs reflect changes in the supplied inventory. Regenerate the document whenever published canonical URLs or their reliable metadata change, then validate the deployed response and make sure it is not protected by authentication. For very large sites, divide records into protocol-compliant sitemap files and create an index through the appropriate workflow. Browser execution is free, while automated API requests use the published base price of $0.002.