SEO guides and free tools
Short guides on XML sitemaps, robots.txt and Google Search Console, each checked against the documentation from Google and sitemaps.org, plus free tools to test your own files.
Guides
- What is an XML sitemap?
What goes in the file, the limits, how to submit it, and a minimal example.
- Sitemap vs robots.txt
What each file does, and why robots.txt does not keep a page out of Google.
- How to fix sitemap errors in Google Search Console
Every documented Sitemaps report message, with its cause and fix.
- The 50,000-URL limit, and when to use a sitemap index
The two file limits and how an index gets around them.
- What Google does with lastmod, priority and changefreq
Why lastmod counts only when it is honest, and why the other two are ignored.
Free tools
- Sitemap validator
Check a sitemap against the protocol rules and limits.
- Robots.txt tester
See whether a URL is allowed or blocked by a robots.txt file.
Comparisons
- XML-Sitemaps.com alternative
A side-by-side with XML-Sitemaps.com, including where it is cheaper.
Or skip the reading and map your own site.
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