XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file listing a site's important URLs, optionally with last-modified dates, to help search engines discover and prioritize pages for crawling. It supplements internal linking rather than replacing it and can be submitted through search engine tools.
Why It Matters
Sitemaps speed discovery of new and updated pages, especially on large or poorly linked sites. Accurate lastmod dates help engines recrawl changed content sooner, keeping the index current for pages that need to rank.
Common Mistake
Listing noindexed, redirected, canonicalized-away, or 404 URLs in the sitemap. A sitemap should contain only canonical, indexable, 200-status URLs; including junk erodes trust in the file and confuses crawl prioritization.