Sitemap Index Generator
Build a sitemap index from a list of sitemap URLs, or split an oversized URL list into the sitemaps it needs.
About this tool
Builds a `sitemapindex` file from a list of sitemap URLs, and checks the limits that make a sitemap fail silently.
**A sitemap holds at most 50,000 URLs.** Past that the whole file is rejected rather than truncated, so a site that grows past the limit stops submitting all of its pages at once. Search Console reports one error that does not name a single lost URL.
**A sitemap may only list URLs on its own host.** This is the one that catches people out: move sitemaps to a CDN or a subdomain, keep the URLs pointing at the main site, and the whole file is ignored. Nothing about the file is invalid — it is a cross-submission rule, and it fails quietly.
Paste sitemap URLs to build an index, or paste a long list of page URLs and the tool will tell you how many sitemaps it needs and what the index should look like.
Common questions
When do I need a sitemap index?
Once you have more than one sitemap. An index lets you submit a single URL and split the content behind it — by type, by section, by date — which also means a problem shows up against one sitemap rather than all of them.
What happens if a sitemap has more than 50,000 URLs?
It is rejected in full. Not truncated at the limit — rejected. The pages beyond the limit are not submitted and neither are the ones before it.
Can a sitemap on a CDN list URLs on my main domain?
Not by default. A sitemap may only list URLs on its own host, unless the other host is verified in Search Console and the sitemap is referenced from its robots.txt. Otherwise the file is ignored, quietly.
Can an index point at another index?
No. Sitemap indexes do not nest — one level only. A site large enough to want two levels needs several indexes submitted separately.