name	xml-sitemap-generator
description	Generate valid XML sitemap files for websites with proper URL entries, priorities, change frequencies, and optional image/video extensions. Triggers on "create sitemap", "generate sitemap.xml", "XML sitemap for", "SEO sitemap".

XML Sitemap Generator

Generate valid XML sitemaps compliant with the Sitemaps Protocol for search engine optimization.

Output Requirements

File Output: sitemap.xml, sitemap-index.xml, or sitemap-{section}.xml Format: Valid XML with proper namespace declarations Standards: Sitemaps Protocol 0.9

When Invoked

Immediately generate a complete, valid XML sitemap. Infer reasonable priority and changefreq values based on URL patterns.

Sitemap Protocol Specifications

Required Elements

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/page</loc>
  </url>
</urlset>

Optional Elements

<lastmod> - Last modification date (W3C Datetime format)
<changefreq> - Expected change frequency
<priority> - Relative priority (0.0 to 1.0)

Limits

Maximum 50,000 URLs per sitemap file
Maximum 50MB file size (uncompressed)
Use sitemap index for larger sites

Template Types

Basic Website Sitemap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <!-- Homepage -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>

  <!-- Main Navigation Pages -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-10</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/services</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-12</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/contact</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-05</lastmod>
    <changefreq>yearly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.6</priority>
  </url>

  <!-- Blog Section -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.7</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog/post-title-one</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-14</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.6</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog/post-title-two</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-10</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.6</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

E-commerce Sitemap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <!-- Homepage -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>

  <!-- Category Pages -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/category/electronics</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.9</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/category/electronics/laptops</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>

  <!-- Product Pages -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/product/laptop-pro-15</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-14</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.7</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/product/wireless-mouse</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-13</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.7</priority>
  </url>

  <!-- Static Pages -->
  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/shipping</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-01</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://store.example.com/returns</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-01</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Sitemap Index (For Large Sites)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
  </sitemap>

  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
  </sitemap>

  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products-1.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
  </sitemap>

  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products-2.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-14</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Sitemap with Images Extension

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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/products/widget</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/images/widget-front.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Widget Front View</image:title>
      <image:caption>High-quality widget shown from the front</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/images/widget-side.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Widget Side View</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

Sitemap with Video Extension

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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/videos/tutorial</loc>
    <video:video>
      <video:thumbnail_loc>https://example.com/thumbs/tutorial.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>
      <video:title>Getting Started Tutorial</video:title>
      <video:description>Learn how to use our product in 5 minutes</video:description>
      <video:content_loc>https://example.com/videos/tutorial.mp4</video:content_loc>
      <video:duration>300</video:duration>
      <video:publication_date>2024-01-15T08:00:00+00:00</video:publication_date>
    </video:video>
  </url>
</urlset>

News Sitemap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://news.example.com/article/breaking-news</loc>
    <news:news>
      <news:publication>
        <news:name>Example News</news:name>
        <news:language>en</news:language>
      </news:publication>
      <news:publication_date>2024-01-15T12:00:00+00:00</news:publication_date>
      <news:title>Breaking: Major Event Unfolds</news:title>
    </news:news>
  </url>
</urlset>

Priority and Changefreq Guidelines

Priority Values

Page Type	Priority
Homepage	1.0
Main category/section pages	0.8-0.9
Product/service pages	0.7-0.8
Blog/article index	0.7
Individual blog posts	0.5-0.6
Policy pages (privacy, terms)	0.3-0.5
Utility pages (login, cart)	0.3

Changefreq Values

Value	Use For
always	Real-time pages, live data
hourly	News, frequently updated content
daily	Blog index, homepage
weekly	Product pages, regular content
monthly	About pages, documentation
yearly	Policy pages, archives
never	Dated archives, old content

Date Formats

W3C Datetime (Required)

YYYY-MM-DD
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD

Examples:

2024-01-15
2024-01-15T09:30:00+00:00
2024-01-15T09:30:00Z

Validation Checklist

Before outputting, verify:

Valid XML declaration with UTF-8 encoding
Correct namespace declarations
All URLs are absolute (include protocol and domain)
URLs are properly escaped (& becomes &)
lastmod dates are W3C Datetime format
priority values are between 0.0 and 1.0
changefreq uses valid values
Under 50,000 URLs per file
No duplicate URLs

URL Escaping

Escape these characters:

Character	Escape
&	`&`
'	`'`
"	`"`
>	`>`
<	`<`

Example Invocations

Prompt: "Create sitemap.xml for a SaaS marketing website" Output: Complete sitemap.xml with homepage, features, pricing, blog, and static pages.

Prompt: "Generate e-commerce sitemap with categories and products" Output: Complete sitemap.xml with category hierarchy, product pages, and static pages.

Prompt: "Sitemap index for a large news site" Output: Complete sitemap-index.xml plus individual sitemap-{section}.xml files.

xml-sitemap-generator

Install Skill

SKILL.md