Publish a sitemap.xml

A sitemap.xml is a single file at the root of your site (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) that lists every page you want Google to know about, along with each page's last-modified date. It is the official way to hand Google a directory of your site rather than waiting for it to follow links and guess.

A sitemap is the difference between Google discovering a new service page within hours vs. weeks. It is especially critical for small sites (few backlinks for Google to follow) and for sites with content buried in deep menus. There is no downside, publishing one is fifteen minutes of work that pays back forever.

1. 1

   List every URL you want indexed

   Include all "real" pages: homepage, service pages, location pages, blog posts. Do NOT include thank-you pages, admin URLs, or login pages.

2. 2

   Generate a sitemap.xml file

   For small sites, a static file is fine. Place it at the root: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
     <url>
       <loc>https://apexcarservice.com/</loc>
       <lastmod>2026-06-19</lastmod>
       <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
       <priority>1.0</priority>
     </url>
     <url>
       <loc>https://apexcarservice.com/services/airport-car-service</loc>
       <lastmod>2026-06-12</lastmod>
       <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
       <priority>0.9</priority>
     </url>
   </urlset>

3. 3

   Next.js: generate it with app/sitemap.ts

   The App Router has a built-in convention. Drop a `sitemap.ts` file in /app and Next will serve it at /sitemap.xml automatically.

   // app/sitemap.ts
   import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next';
   
   export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
     return [
       {
         url: 'https://apexcarservice.com/',
         lastModified: new Date(),
         changeFrequency: 'weekly',
         priority: 1.0,
       },
       {
         url: 'https://apexcarservice.com/services/airport-car-service',
         lastModified: new Date(),
         changeFrequency: 'monthly',
         priority: 0.9,
       },
     ];
   }

4. 4

   Reference the sitemap in robots.txt

   Add a `Sitemap:` line to your robots.txt so Google can discover it without you having to do anything.

   User-agent: *
   Allow: /
   
   Sitemap: https://apexcarservice.com/sitemap.xml

5. 5

   Submit it to Google Search Console

   Search Console > Sitemaps > paste sitemap.xml > Submit. Google will fetch it on a schedule from then on.

Visit https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml in a browser, it should load and show your URLs in XML. Google Search Console > Sitemaps should show "Success" with a discovered URL count matching your sitemap.

• Google: Build and submit a sitemap
• sitemaps.org protocol