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---
title: sitemap.xml
description: API Reference for the sitemap.xml file.
related:
  title: Next Steps
  description: Learn how to use the generateSitemaps function.
  links:
    - app/api-reference/functions/generate-sitemaps
---

`sitemap.(xml|js|ts)` is a special file that matches the [Sitemaps XML format](https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html) to help search engine crawlers index your site more efficiently.

### Sitemap files (.xml)

For smaller applications, you can create a `sitemap.xml` file and place it in the root of your `app` directory.

```xml filename="app/sitemap.xml"
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>yearly</changefreq>
    <priority>1</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/about</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/blog</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

### Generating a sitemap using code (.js, .ts)

You can use the `sitemap.(js|ts)` file convention to programmatically **generate** a sitemap by exporting a default function that returns an array of URLs. If using TypeScript, a [`Sitemap`](#returns) type is available.

> **Good to know**: `sitemap.js` is a special Route Handler that is cached by default unless it uses a [Dynamic API](/docs/app/guides/caching#dynamic-apis) or [dynamic config](/docs/app/guides/caching#segment-config-options) option.

```ts filename="app/sitemap.ts" switcher
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'yearly',
      priority: 1,
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/about',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'monthly',
      priority: 0.8,
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/blog',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 0.5,
    },
  ]
}
```

```js filename="app/sitemap.js" switcher
export default function sitemap() {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'yearly',
      priority: 1,
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/about',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'monthly',
      priority: 0.8,
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/blog',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 0.5,
    },
  ]
}
```

Output:

```xml filename="acme.com/sitemap.xml"
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>yearly</changefreq>
    <priority>1</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/about</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/blog</loc>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

### Image Sitemaps

You can use `images` property to create image sitemaps. Learn more details in the [Google Developer Docs](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/image-sitemaps).

```ts filename="app/sitemap.ts" switcher
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://example.com',
      lastModified: '2021-01-01',
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 0.5,
      images: ['https://example.com/image.jpg'],
    },
  ]
}
```

Output:

```xml filename="acme.com/sitemap.xml"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset
  xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
  xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1"
>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/image.jpg</image:loc>
    </image:image>
    <lastmod>2021-01-01</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

### Video Sitemaps

You can use `videos` property to create video sitemaps. Learn more details in the [Google Developer Docs](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/video-sitemaps).

```ts filename="app/sitemap.ts" switcher
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://example.com',
      lastModified: '2021-01-01',
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 0.5,
      videos: [
        {
          title: 'example',
          thumbnail_loc: 'https://example.com/image.jpg',
          description: 'this is the description',
        },
      ],
    },
  ]
}
```

Output:

```xml filename="acme.com/sitemap.xml"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset
  xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
  xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"
>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com</loc>
    <video:video>
      <video:title>example</video:title>
      <video:thumbnail_loc>https://example.com/image.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>
      <video:description>this is the description</video:description>
    </video:video>
    <lastmod>2021-01-01</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.5</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

### Generate a localized Sitemap

```ts filename="app/sitemap.ts" switcher
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de',
        },
      },
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/about',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es/about',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de/about',
        },
      },
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/blog',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es/blog',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de/blog',
        },
      },
    },
  ]
}
```

```js filename="app/sitemap.js" switcher
export default function sitemap() {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de',
        },
      },
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/about',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es/about',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de/about',
        },
      },
    },
    {
      url: 'https://acme.com/blog',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      alternates: {
        languages: {
          es: 'https://acme.com/es/blog',
          de: 'https://acme.com/de/blog',
        },
      },
    },
  ]
}
```

Output:

```xml filename="acme.com/sitemap.xml"
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com</loc>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="es"
      href="https://acme.com/es"/>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="de"
      href="https://acme.com/de"/>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/about</loc>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="es"
      href="https://acme.com/es/about"/>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="de"
      href="https://acme.com/de/about"/>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://acme.com/blog</loc>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="es"
      href="https://acme.com/es/blog"/>
    <xhtml:link
      rel="alternate"
      hreflang="de"
      href="https://acme.com/de/blog"/>
    <lastmod>2023-04-06T15:02:24.021Z</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

### Generating multiple sitemaps

While a single sitemap will work for most applications. For large web applications, you may need to split a sitemap into multiple files.

There are two ways you can create multiple sitemaps:

- By nesting `sitemap.(xml|js|ts)` inside multiple route segments e.g. `app/sitemap.xml` and `app/products/sitemap.xml`.
- By using the [`generateSitemaps`](/docs/app/api-reference/functions/generate-sitemaps) function.

For example, to split a sitemap using `generateSitemaps`, return an array of objects with the sitemap `id`. Then, use the `id` to generate the unique sitemaps.

```ts filename="app/product/sitemap.ts" switcher
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'
import { BASE_URL } from '@/app/lib/constants'

export async function generateSitemaps() {
  // Fetch the total number of products and calculate the number of sitemaps needed
  return [{ id: 0 }, { id: 1 }, { id: 2 }, { id: 3 }]
}

export default async function sitemap({
  id,
}: {
  id: number
}): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
  // Google's limit is 50,000 URLs per sitemap
  const start = id * 50000
  const end = start + 50000
  const products = await getProducts(
    `SELECT id, date FROM products WHERE id BETWEEN ${start} AND ${end}`
  )
  return products.map((product) => ({
    url: `${BASE_URL}/product/${product.id}`,
    lastModified: product.date,
  }))
}
```

```js filename="app/product/sitemap.js" switcher
import { BASE_URL } from '@/app/lib/constants'

export async function generateSitemaps() {
  // Fetch the total number of products and calculate the number of sitemaps needed
  return [{ id: 0 }, { id: 1 }, { id: 2 }, { id: 3 }]
}

export default async function sitemap({ id }) {
  // Google's limit is 50,000 URLs per sitemap
  const start = id * 50000
  const end = start + 50000
  const products = await getProducts(
    `SELECT id, date FROM products WHERE id BETWEEN ${start} AND ${end}`
  )
  return products.map((product) => ({
    url: `${BASE_URL}/product/${product.id}`,
    lastModified: product.date,
  }))
}
```

Your generated sitemaps will be available at `/.../sitemap/[id]`. For example, `/product/sitemap/1.xml`.

See the [`generateSitemaps` API reference](/docs/app/api-reference/functions/generate-sitemaps) for more information.

## Returns

The default function exported from `sitemap.(xml|ts|js)` should return an array of objects with the following properties:

```tsx
type Sitemap = Array<{
  url: string
  lastModified?: string | Date
  changeFrequency?:
    | 'always'
    | 'hourly'
    | 'daily'
    | 'weekly'
    | 'monthly'
    | 'yearly'
    | 'never'
  priority?: number
  alternates?: {
    languages?: Languages<string>
  }
}>
```

## Version History

| Version    | Changes                                                      |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `v14.2.0`  | Add localizations support.                                   |
| `v13.4.14` | Add `changeFrequency` and `priority` attributes to sitemaps. |
| `v13.3.0`  | `sitemap` introduced.                                        |