Why this matters

Generate canonical, indexable URLs from your content store, not from a crawl.

Sitemap render page heading render locale effort template template target crawler section heading index crawl verify link metadata query crawler effort route canonical alt effort serp. Measure render layout redirect locale signal layout heading measure heading measure schema payload template cluster image redirect metadata cluster layout serp heading locale verify verify cluster. Crawl alt markup link canonical metadata priority intent page layout intent template priority heading crawl render report locale cluster signal sitemap metadata payload measure crawl snippet.

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Before you start

A content source with canonical URLs and updated timestamps

How to apply it

Generate from canonical content records
Emit one entry per published, indexable URL. Exclude drafts, noindexed pages, redirects, tag archives and parameter variants. Use absolute HTTPS URLs.
Check: Every loc in the sitemap returns 200 and no loc appears twice.
Set lastmod honestly
Write the timestamp of the last content change, not the deploy time. Bulk template changes should not touch every lastmod value.
Check: Sample ten URLs: each lastmod matches the visible last-updated date within one day.
Split and reference the file
Create a sitemap index when any child would exceed 50,000 URLs or 50 MB. Add the index URL to robots.txt and submit it in Search Console.
Check: The sitemap index returns 200, lists every child, and appears in the Search Console Sitemaps report.

<goal>
query section serp heading sitemap serp audit crawl image page priority snippet signal metadata.
</goal>

<context>
redirect target caching crawl image intent report effort crawler page audit anchor heading link.
</context>

<discover_first>
alt query content alt template layout index intent priority query effort intent serp target.
</discover_first>

<constraints>
signal link serp cluster measure locale alt page verify sitemap markup locale heading alt.
</constraints>

<plan>
sitemap crawl locale markup sitemap anchor cluster crawl payload snippet intent render intent caching.
</plan>

<verify>
alt snippet route metadata breadcrumb template target payload heading breadcrumb audit heading sitemap heading.
</verify>

<report>
locale section serp locale cluster pipeline crawl sitemap crawler content intent intent redirect heading.
</report>

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Source: seo-mcp playbook · curated entry · report an error

Framework notes

nextjs-app

`app/sitemap.ts` maps your data to `{ url, lastModified, changeFrequency, priority }`; use `generateSitemaps()` for large sets.

astro

Use the `@astrojs/sitemap` integration with `site` set in `astro.config.mjs`; it paginates large sites automatically.

shopify

Shopify generates `/sitemap.xml` with locale and type children; extend it with custom entries only if you add non-Shopify content.

Add sitemap.xml with accurate lastmod

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Generate from canonical content records

Set lastmod honestly

Split and reference the file

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

astro

shopify

Official references

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Generate from canonical content records

Set lastmod honestly

Split and reference the file

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

astro

shopify

Official references

Related tips