Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about XML sitemaps and SitemapForge
General Questions
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages of your website, making it easier for search engines like Google to discover and index your content. It includes information about each URL such as when it was last updated, how often it changes, and its relative importance.
Do I need a sitemap for my website?
While not strictly required, XML sitemaps are highly recommended, especially if your site is large, has pages that aren't well-linked internally, is new, or uses rich media content. Sitemaps help search engines understand your site structure and find all your pages more efficiently.
Is SitemapForge free to use?
Yes! All core features of SitemapForge are completely free to use. There's no registration required, no hidden fees, and no premium tiers. We believe powerful SEO tools should be accessible to everyone.
Do I need to create an account?
No account is needed. You can start using all features immediately without registration. We respect your privacy and don't require any personal information to use our tools.
Using SitemapForge
How do I create a sitemap?
You have two options: Crawl Website (enter your site URL and let our crawler discover pages automatically) or Manual URLs (paste a list of URLs directly). Choose templates for common site types or customize settings manually.
What's the difference between crawling and manual entry?
Crawling automatically discovers pages by following links from your homepage, making it ideal for existing websites. Manual entry is perfect when you have a specific list of URLs or want precise control over which pages are included.
How long does crawling take?
Crawl time depends on your site size and complexity. Small sites (under 100 pages) typically finish in under a minute. Larger sites may take several minutes. The crawler respects robots.txt and includes a progress indicator.
What happens if my sitemap has more than 50,000 URLs?
SitemapForge automatically splits large sitemaps into multiple files according to the XML sitemap protocol. This includes creating a sitemap index file that references all the individual sitemaps.
How do I validate my sitemap?
Go to the Validate page and either enter a sitemap URL, paste XML content, or upload a sitemap file. The validator checks syntax, protocol compliance, and URL accessibility, then provides a detailed report with any errors or warnings.
Technical Questions
What sitemap format does SitemapForge use?
SitemapForge generates XML sitemaps following the official sitemaps.org protocol. The output is compatible with all major search engines including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.
Does the crawler respect robots.txt?
Yes, our crawler respects robots.txt directives. It won't crawl pages that are disallowed for user agents and follows crawl-delay specifications to avoid overloading your server.
What are priority and change frequency values?
Priority (0.0 to 1.0) indicates the relative importance of URLs on your site. Change frequency (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never) hints at how often a page is updated. These are suggestions to search engines, not commands.
Where should I place my sitemap file?
The standard location is https://example.com/sitemap.xml at your site's root. You should also reference it in your robots.txt file with the line: Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
How do I submit my sitemap to search engines?
Submit your sitemap through Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Visit our Submission Guide for detailed step-by-step instructions.
Privacy & Data
Do you store my sitemaps or website data?
No. All sitemap generation happens in real-time and we don't store your data. When you use the manual URL mode, processing happens entirely in your browser. Crawler mode requires server-side processing but data is immediately discarded after generation.
Is my data secure?
Yes. We use HTTPS for all connections and don't log or store any personal information. For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.
Can I save my sitemap configuration?
Your browser may cache recent inputs locally, but we don't store configurations on our servers. You can export generated sitemaps as XML files to save them locally.
Still have questions?
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