XML sitemap

Meaning

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important URLs of a website to help search engines discover and understand its pages. Google says a sitemap can improve crawling of larger or more complex sites, and describes a small site as about 500 pages or fewer, where a sitemap matters less if the pages are well linked. It signals what you consider important but does not guarantee crawling or indexing. Include only indexable pages and submit it in Search Console. See also: Crawler, Index, XML, and the guide How Search Engines Crawl, Index and Rank Pages.