Sitemap Website Example: 8 Valid XML Samples to Copy
A sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs you want search engines to find. The simplest sitemap website example is a urlset with one url and loc per page. Below are eight copy-ready samples — basic, index, blog, e-commerce images, video, news, multilingual and plain text — plus a live lookup of any real site's sitemap.
Use when: A small business or brochure site with a handful of pages.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-10-20</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/services/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-09-14</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/about/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-06-02</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/contact/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-06-02</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>See how a real website does it
Every sample follows the sitemaps.org 0.9 protocol and Google's extension namespaces; the live lookup fetches and validates a real site's sitemap. Free, no signup. Updated Oct 24, 2026 by the AEOeye team.
XML Sitemap Example: urlset, Index, Image, Video and News
Every XML sitemap is one of two shapes. A urlset lists pages; a sitemapindex lists other sitemaps. The image, video, news and hreflang variants are a urlset with an extra namespace for the additional tags.
| Example | Root element | Extra namespace | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic / blog | urlset | none | Any site |
| Sitemap index | sitemapindex | none | Over 50,000 URLs or 50 MB |
| E-commerce | urlset | image | You want product photos found |
| Video | urlset | video | Pages built around a video |
| News | urlset | news | Publishers in Google News |
| Multilingual | urlset | xhtml | Same page in several languages |
The format itself is defined at sitemaps.org.
Which tags does Google actually use?
Only loc and, when it's honest, lastmod. Google says it ignores priority and changefreq, and uses lastmod only if it is consistently and verifiably accurate. That's why our samples leave priority and changefreq out entirely.
Two limits apply to every sitemap: 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed per file. Past either, split into several files and list them in a sitemap index.
When do I need the special sitemaps?
Rarely, for most sites. Image tags help when product photos are loaded in ways Google can't discover on its own (image sitemaps). News sitemaps are only for publishers, and only for articles from the last two days, with at most 1,000 news entries per file (news sitemaps).
If none of that applies, the basic example is all you need.
How do real sites organize theirs?
Mostly with an index. When we checked 391 well-known sites in October 2026 (dataset), 84.6% pointed to their sitemap from robots.txt — the simplest way to make sure every crawler finds it. Use the live lookup above on a site you admire to see its structure.
How do I check my own sitemap?
Paste your domain into the sitemap checker: it finds the file through robots.txt, validates the XML and samples the URLs for errors. No sitemap yet? The sitemap generator crawls your site and builds one.
One page checked. What about the rest of your site?
The free SEO audit crawls your site and scores ~90 checks across 7 areas — with the evidence and the fix for each problem.
FAQ
What is the simplest valid sitemap?
+
An XML file with a urlset root element in the sitemaps.org namespace and one url entry containing a loc for each page. lastmod is optional but useful when it reflects real edits.
Where should I put my sitemap?
+
Usually at the site root, such as /sitemap.xml, and referenced from robots.txt with a "Sitemap:" line. You can also submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Should I include priority and changefreq?
+
You can, but Google ignores both. Spend the effort on accurate lastmod dates instead, which Google uses when they consistently match real changes to the page.
Sources
Related free tools
Sitemap Checker
Free sitemap checker: find a site's sitemaps, validate the XML, count URLs and test a sample for 200s, redirects and noindex. No signup.
XML Sitemap Generator
Free sitemap generator: we crawl your site like a search engine (up to 500 pages), skip noindex and redirects, and build valid XML to download.
Robots.txt Tester
Free robots.txt tester: test any URL for Googlebot, Bingbot, GPTBot, ClaudeBot and 13 more bots, and see exactly which rule decides (RFC 9309).
Bing URL Submission
Submit URLs to Bing instantly with IndexNow: generate a key, verify it, push up to 100 URLs per request. Yandex, Seznam, Naver and others get them too.