# Sitemap.xml — SEO for Developers: Technical SEO and Core Web Vitals

Source: https://www.skillbyai.com/en/seo-developers/seo-sitemap

> Create and submit a sitemap to tell search engines about all your pages and their importance.

## What is a sitemap?

A **sitemap.xml** is an XML file that lists the pages you want search engines to crawl, with an optional last-modified date. It is for crawlers, not users, and helps them discover pages they might otherwise miss.

## Sitemap structure

Each `<url>` needs a `<loc>`. Add an accurate `<lastmod>`; Google ignores `<priority>` and `<changefreq>`, so you can omit them.

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-10-15</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/blog/seo-guide</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-10-01</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

## Submit to Search Console

After creating your sitemap, submit it via Google Search Console (and Bing Webmaster Tools). This speeds up crawling and indexing.