---
name: seo-sitemaps
description: >-
  Builds, audits, and fixes Google XML/RSS/text sitemaps on any website:
  formats, 50k/50MB limits, lastmod, canonical URLs, hreflang, news sitemaps,
  robots.txt and Search Console submission, common don'ts, and GSC error fixes
  (Couldn't fetch, URL not allowed, path mismatch). Use when the user mentions
  sitemaps, sitemap.xml, Search Console sitemap errors, lastmod, news sitemap,
  or asks to add or review sitemaps for a site.
---

# SEO sitemaps (any website)

Site-agnostic Google Search Central guidance. Apply to whatever domain, CMS, or repo the user names.

Published by [SEO Studio Estonia](https://seoestonia.xyz/en/resources/llm-seo-skills/seo-sitemaps/).

## Apply to a target site

1. Locate sitemaps (`/sitemap.xml`, index, robots.txt `Sitemap:`, CMS generators, RSS/Atom).
2. Fetch sitemap(s) and robots.txt; note scheme/host (`https`/`http`, `www`/bare).
3. Audit against Do / Don't / limits; list issues with real URLs.
4. Fix in that site’s stack; keep absolute canonical URLs.
5. Verify fetchable without login; recommend GSC live test + submit/resubmit.
6. Report: what was wrong, what changed, what to check in GSC.

## Hard rules

- Formats: XML, RSS/Atom/mRSS, or `.txt` (one URL per line). Google has no preference.
- Limits: **50,000 URLs** or **50 MB uncompressed** per file; sitemap index one level only.
- Google **ignores** `priority` and `changefreq`.
- Use honest `<lastmod>` for significant changes only; omit when unsure.
- Absolute canonical URLs; align scheme/host with sitemap location.
- Prefer site root; without GSC submit, sitemap only covers descendants of its directory.
- Hreflang: HTML, headers, or sitemap — one method; each URL lists all alternates including self.
- No sitemap ping; signal change via lastmod, new URLs, RSS, news sitemap (last ~2 days, ≤1,000).
- Submitting is a hint, not a crawl/index guarantee.

## Don't

Fake lastmod · relative URLs · redirect/tracking URLs · nest indexes · block in robots.txt · mix www/https · treat HTML sitemap or `llms.txt` as XML · expect GSC remove to forget URLs.

## Fix Couldn't fetch

robots block · wrong/404 URL (report ignores redirects) · manual action · server/DNS · low crawl demand (quality). Live-test sitemap URL; fix; resubmit.

## Sources

- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap
- https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451001
- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions

## Install

Copy this file to `.cursor/skills/seo-sitemaps/SKILL.md` (or your agent’s skills folder). Invoke by name: `seo-sitemaps`.