What belongs in a sitemap
In plain English: List absolute canonical URLs that you want eligible for search.
Keep redirects, duplicate variants, error pages, private routes and intentionally noindexed pages out. Use fully qualified production URLs with one consistent hostname.
A sitemap can include up to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed; larger sets can be divided and referenced from a sitemap index.
Submit and read the result
In plain English: Add the sitemap URL in Search Console's Sitemaps report and review its processing status.
A common location is https://example.com/sitemap.xml. Search Console can report when Google accessed it and surface parsing or fetch errors. Resubmit after correcting the file; routine content changes do not require repeatedly removing and adding it.
What submission does not do
In plain English: A submitted sitemap is a discovery and canonical hint—not a guarantee.
Google may choose not to download, crawl or index a submitted URL. Sitemap inclusion does not raise rankings. Eligibility, canonical selection, content usefulness and other systems still apply.
Keep in mind: Do not report a successful sitemap status as proof that every listed URL is indexed.
Next.js context
In plain English: Generate the sitemap from the same publication registry that controls public routes.
Next.js App Router supports a sitemap metadata route. Deriving entries from canonical published data prevents preview, account or authentication URLs from leaking into the file.
Check the generated production output for duplicates, localhost hosts, non-www variants and invented modification dates.
- app/sitemap.ts returns canonical absolute URLs
- A registry filter includes only indexable publication states