Examples & Code Snippets | Sitemap.xml Docs

Basic XML Sitemap

The foundational structure compliant with W3C Sitemap Protocol 0.9. Use this static format for small sites or manual deployments.

sitemap.xml

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-01-14</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

sitemap.html

<html>
  <head>
    <title>HTML Sitemap</title>
    <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="/>Home</a></li>
      <li><a href="/blog>Blog</a></li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>

Note: XML sitemaps are meant for crawlers. HTML sitemaps improve user navigation and should be placed at /sitemap.html or /sitemap.

Dynamic Generation with Node.js

Automate sitemap creation for dynamic routes using our official SDK. Ideal for Next.js, Express, or custom server setups.

generate-sitemap.js

import { SitemapClient } from '@sitemap/sdk';

const client = new SitemapClient({
  apiKey: process.env.SITEMAP_API_KEY,
  siteUrl: 'https://example.com'
});

// Fetch dynamic routes from your DB/API
const urls = await getDynamicRoutes();

// Generate & submit atomically
const response = await client.generateAndSubmit({
  urls,
  format: 'xml',
  compress: true // Gzip enabled
});

console.log(`Submitted ${response.totalUrls} URLs`);

generate.py

import sitemap_sdk

client = sitemap_sdk.Client(
    api_key="your_api_key_here",
    site_url="https://example.com"
)

urls = [
    sitemap_sdk.Url(loc="/products/123", priority=0.9),
    sitemap_sdk.Url(loc="/products/456", lastmod="2025-01-15")
]

client.submit(urls, format="xml")
print("Sitemap updated successfully.")

submit.sh

curl -X POST "https://api.sitemap.xml/v2/submit" \n  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SITEMAP_KEY" \n  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \n  -d '{
    "site": "https://example.com",
    "urls": ["/home", "/about", "/contact"]
  }'

CMS Integrations

Quick-drop configurations for popular content management systems. These snippets automatically hook into your publication lifecycle.

functions.php

add_action('save_post', 'update_sitemap_on_publish', 10, 2);
function update_sitemap_on_publish($post_id, $post) {
    if ($post->post_status === 'publish') {
        wp_remote_post('https://api.sitemap.xml/v2/submit', [
            'body' => ['urls' => [get_permalink($post_id)]]
        ]);
    }
}

snippets/sitemap.liquid

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  {% for product in collections.all.products %}>
    <url>
      <loc>{{ shop.url | append: product.url }}</loc>
      <lastmod>{{ product.updated_at | date: '%Y-%m-%d' }}</lastmod>
    </url>
  {% endfor %}>
</urlset>

Video & Image Extensions

Enhance your sitemap with rich media metadata to improve SERP snippets and media discovery.

video-sitemap.xml

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
       xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/video-tutorial</loc>
    <video:video>
      <video:thumbnail_loc>https://example.com/thumb.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>
      <video:title>How to Build a Sitemap</video:title>
      <video:description>A step-by-step guide</video:description>
      <video:content_loc>https://example.com/video.mp4</video:content_loc>
      <video:duration>300</video:duration>
    </video:video>
  </url>
</urlset>

image-sitemap.xml

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
       xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/product/123</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/img/123-front.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Product 123 Front</image:title>
      <image:caption>High-resolution product shot</image:caption>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

Indexing API Submission

Bypass standard crawling queues and push critical URLs directly to search engine indexation pipelines.

api/submit.js

import { IndexClient } from '@sitemap/indexer';

const indexer = new IndexClient(process.env.INDEX_API_KEY);

// Batch submit up to 1000 URLs
const result = await indexer.pushBatch({
  urls: ['https://example.com/news/breaking', 'https://example.com/promo'],
  priority: 'high',
  targets: ['google', 'bing', 'yandex']
});

if (result.accepted === result.total) {
  console.log(`✅ Successfully queued ${result.accepted} URLs`);
} else {
  console.error(`⚠️ ${result.rejected} URLs failed validation`);
}

Rate Limits: Free tier allows 100 submissions/day. Professional tier: 10,000/day. Enterprise: Custom throughput with dedicated queues.