Sitemap Glossary

What is Sitemap XML Namespace?

The xmlns declaration required in sitemap XML files to define the document schema.

Written by SitemapKit Editorial TeamUpdated: Jul 21, 2026

Key takeaways

Interpret Sitemap XML Namespace in its sitemap XML context; the detailed definition below explains its role and constraints.
Validate Sitemap XML Namespace against a real XML example instead of relying on the field or tag name alone.

The XML namespace declaration is a required attribute on the root element of a sitemap file. For standard sitemaps, it's: `xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"`.

Additional namespaces are used for sitemap extensions: - **Image:** `xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1"` - **Video:** `xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"` - **News:** `xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9"` - **Hreflang:** `xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"`

Without the correct namespace, search engines may not be able to parse the sitemap correctly.

XML example

<?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"
        xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1">
  <!-- URLs go here -->
</urlset>

Continue with SitemapKit

Check an XML sitemap

Inspect Sitemap XML Namespace in a real sitemap.

Extract sitemap URLs

Turn XML sitemap fields into structured, exportable URL data.

API documentation

See how this concept appears in SitemapKit API responses.

Practical sitemap workflows

Apply sitemap concepts to SEO, monitoring, and data pipelines.

Sources and further reading

Work with sitemaps programmatically

SitemapKit's API discovers and parses XML sitemaps into structured JSON, including fields such as Sitemap XML Namespace.

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