Sitemap XML (Botability)

The sitemap file type is XML.

On this page

    Listen

    A podcast overview related to Sitemap XML made with Google NotebookLM.

    Impact

    (ScanGov impact)

    About

    The sitemap is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file on the website's root directory that include metadata for each URL, such as:

    • when it was last updated
    • how often it usually changes
    • how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site

    Why it's important

    Stores site structure in a readable format, helping search engines efficiently crawl and index all website pages.

    User stories

    As a search engine bot, I want the website to provide a properly formatted XML sitemap so that I can efficiently crawl and index all relevant pages, improving the site's visibility in search results.

    Code

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

   <url>

      <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>

      <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>

      <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>

      <priority>0.8</priority>

   </url>

</urlset>

    Error

    (ScanGov messaging when a site fails a standard)

    Sitemap is not in XML format.

    Examples

    Example government website sitemaps:

    Guidance

    Indicators

    On this page