Technical guide updates
— The sitemap guides were updated against Google Search Central, the sitemap protocol, and SitemapKit’s current API implementation. The notes below describe what changed on each page. Original publication dates and URLs are unchanged.
XML Sitemaps: Build, Submit, and Maintain a Clean Inventory
Added generator eligibility, directory scope, submission diagnostics, and the distinction between file processing and page indexing.
How to Find a Website’s Sitemap
Removed the unsupported seven-method promise and added XML parsing, origin handling, discovery limits, and failed-candidate diagnostics.
Common XML Sitemap Errors and How to Fix Them
Added transport and escaping diagnostics, Checker's first-ten-URL sampling limits, and separate indexability checks.
How to Extract Sitemap URLs to CSV or JSON
Added authenticated extract API commands, exact envelope and field handling, partial-result reconciliation, and rate and quota diagnostics.
Sitemap Indexes for Large Websites
Added index-specific limits and location rules, child-file deployment checks, and reconciliation beyond bounded crawler results.
Sitemap lastmod: Accurate Page and Index Timestamps
Replaced collection-time freshness advice with material-change dates and added page-versus-index examples and stability checks.
Content maintenance: Clément Chaal.
Found an error? Email [email protected] with the page URL and the example or statement that needs correcting. Editorial policy.