Sitemaps
A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site you want search engines to find, usually in XML at /sitemap.xml.
A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your website you want search engines to find. It's usually an XML file at an address like yourbrand.com/sitemap.xml, with one entry per page and, often, the date each page last changed. Search engines read it to discover pages they might otherwise miss.
For most marketers, the sitemap is one of those things that should just work. It earns attention when you launch lots of new pages at once, when your site is large, or when pages aren't being found.
What goes in it
List the pages you want in search results, at their final address. Leave out pages that redirect, pages you've asked search engines not to list, duplicates and anything behind a login. A sitemap that lists pages you don't want found sends mixed signals.
You can tell search engines where your sitemap is in two ways: submit it in Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools, or add a Sitemap: line to your robots.txt. Google explains the format and its limits in its sitemaps overview.
For example, Harrow & Pine adds 300 new product pages for its autumn range. Its menus only link to the categories, so some products sit several clicks deep. Updating the sitemap with the new pages, and their dates, helps search engines find them in days rather than weeks.
Sitemaps for AI platforms
Some AI platforms search the web through their own crawler, and others lean on a search engine's index, such as Bing or Google. Either way, a page has to be found before it can be read. A sitemap won't make a page more likely to be cited, but it helps make sure your newest pages are in the pool the platforms search. Keep the dates in it honest, since a sitemap where every page changed today tells a bot nothing.