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How to create a sitemap for a small website

Build a clean sitemap URL list for a small site without crawling tools, staging URLs, or duplicate pages.

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Who this is for

Use this guide when you run a small website and need a basic sitemap from pages you already know: homepage, service pages, product pages, blog guides, and contact pages.

A sitemap should help search engines discover important canonical URLs. It should not include every test URL, filtered view, tracking link, or private page.

  • List the pages you want indexed.
  • Use final https URLs.
  • Keep one canonical URL for each page.

Simple workflow

Write the important URLs in a plain list, remove duplicates, generate the XML, then compare the sitemap against robots.txt and canonical tags before submitting it.

Do

  • Include clean canonical URLs.
  • Review the sitemap after every major site change.
  • Keep staging and localhost URLs out.

Don't

  • Do not include duplicate URL versions.
  • Do not include noindex pages.
  • Do not treat a sitemap as a fix for broken internal links.
Basic Sitemap GeneratorTurn a pasted URL list into simple sitemap XML.XML Sitemap URL List CheckerReview URL lists for duplicates and obvious issues.Canonical URL CheckerCheck whether URLs look canonical before adding them.Robots.txt guideAdd crawl guidance and a sitemap reference.Hreflang guidePlan alternate-language URLs carefully.Robots and sitemap checklistReview sitemap and indexing signals together.

FAQs

Should a small website have a sitemap?

Usually yes. A simple sitemap can help discovery, especially when the site has blog posts, service pages, or pages that are not linked clearly yet.

Can I include short redirect URLs in a sitemap?

No. Use the final canonical destination URL, not a redirecting helper URL.