How to create a sitemap.xml with your own code (Sitemap index file)

1. Understanding Sitemaps and Sitemap Indexes

• Sitemap: It is an XML file that tells search engines like Google which pages are on our website.
• Sitemap Index: It is an XML file that combines multiple sub-sitemaps, making it easier to manage large websites.

2. Standard structure of sitemap.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
   <url>
      <loc>https://yourdomain.com/</loc>
      <lastmod>2025-08-17</lastmod>
      <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
      <priority>1.0</priority>
   </url>
   <url>
      <loc>https://yourdomain.com/about</loc>
      <lastmod>2025-08-10</lastmod>
      <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
      <priority>0.8</priority>
   </url>
</urlset>

• <loc> = URL of web page
• <lastmod> = Last updated date (format YYYY-MM-DD)
• <changefreq> = Expected update frequency (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never)
• <priority> = Importance value (0.0 – 1.0)

3. Example Python code for creation sitemap.xml

This code will read a list of URLs and write a sitemap.xml file for you.

import datetime


domain = "https://yourdomain.com"
pages = [
    "/", 
    "/about", 
    "/contact", 
    "/products", 
    "/blog"
]

today = datetime.date.today().isoformat()

sitemap_path = "sitemap.xml"

with open(sitemap_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    f.write('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n')
    f.write('<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">\n')

    for page in pages:
        f.write("  <url>\n")
        f.write(f"    <loc>{domain}{page}</loc>\n")
        f.write(f"    <lastmod>{today}</lastmod>\n")
        f.write("    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>\n")
        f.write("    <priority>0.8</priority>\n")
        f.write("  </url>\n")

    f.write("</urlset>\n")


print("Sitemap index created successfully!")

4. Create a Sitemap for a Static Website

4.1 For (plain .HTML files) static pages

If your website is Static website (plain HTML) And there are many pages such as

/index.html  
/about.html  
/contact.html  
/blog.html  
/products/product1.html  
/products/product2.html

Python code sample to create a Sitemap for a Static website

import os, datetime


domain = "https://yourdomain.com"
web_dir = "./public_html"  
today = datetime.date.today().isoformat()

urls = []


for root, dirs, files in os.walk(web_dir):
    for file in files:
        if file.endswith(".html"):
            rel_path = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(root, file), web_dir)
            url = "/" + rel_path.replace("\\", "/")
            if url.endswith("index.html"):
                url = url.replace("index.html", "") 
            urls.append(url)


sitemap_path = os.path.join(web_dir, "sitemap.xml")
with open(sitemap_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    f.write('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n')
    f.write('<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">\n')
    for url in urls:
        f.write("  <url>\n")
        f.write(f"    <loc>{domain}{url}</loc>\n")
        f.write(f"    <lastmod>{today}</lastmod>\n")
        f.write("    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>\n")
        f.write("    <priority>0.5</priority>\n")
        f.write("  </url>\n")
    f.write("</urlset>\n")

print("Sitemap index created successfully!")

This code will scan all .html files in your web folder and automatically write a sitemap.xml.

4.2 For static websites that use .php files (static pages)

If your website is a static website that uses .php files (such as index.php, about.php, contact.php), the method for creating a sitemap.xml is similar to the .html case, except that we have to pull the .php file instead.

/index.php
/about.php
/contact.php
/blog.php
/products/product1.php
/products/product2.php

Python code for creation sitemap.xml From file .php

import os, datetime


domain = "https://yourdomain.com"
web_dir = "./public_html" 
today = datetime.date.today().isoformat()

urls = []


for root, dirs, files in os.walk(web_dir):
    for file in files:
        if file.endswith(".php"):
            rel_path = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(root, file), web_dir)
            url = "/" + rel_path.replace("\\", "/")
            if url.endswith("index.php"):
                url = url.replace("index.php", "")
            urls.append(url)


sitemap_path = os.path.join(web_dir, "sitemap.xml")
with open(sitemap_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    f.write('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n')
    f.write('<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">\n')
    for url in urls:
        f.write("  <url>\n")
        f.write(f"    <loc>{domain}{url}</loc>\n")
        f.write(f"    <lastmod>{today}</lastmod>\n")
        f.write("    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>\n")
        f.write("    <priority>0.5</priority>\n")
        f.write("  </url>\n")
    f.write("</urlset>\n")

print("Sitemap index created successfully!")

5. Create a sitemap.xml for Shared Hosting

If you are using Shared Hosting, which is limited by the fact that you are not allowed to run Python files directly on shared hosting.

So, there are two options for automatically generating sitemap.xml.

python generate_sitemap.py

https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

<?php
$domain = "https://yourdomain.com";
$web_dir = __DIR__; // public_html
$files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($web_dir));
$urls = [];

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if ($file->isFile() && pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION) === "php") {
        $path = str_replace($web_dir, "", $file->getPathname());
        $url = str_replace("\\", "/", $path);
        if (basename($url) === "index.php") {
            $url = str_replace("index.php", "", $url);
        }
        $urls[] = $url;
    }
}

$today = date("Y-m-d");
$sitemap = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' . "\n";
$sitemap .= '<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">' . "\n";

foreach ($urls as $url) {
    $sitemap .= "  <url>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <loc>{$domain}{$url}</loc>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <lastmod>{$today}</lastmod>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <priority>0.5</priority>\n";
    $sitemap .= "  </url>\n";
}

$sitemap .= "</urlset>";

file_put_contents($web_dir . "/sitemap.xml", $sitemap);

echo "✅ Sitemap created at {$domain}/sitemap.xml";
?>

https://yourdomain.com/generate_sitemap.php

6. There is a new sitemap.xml page that is automatically updated.

You want to give When a new page is added (.php) → sitemap.xml It is updated automatically, since Python cannot be run directly, we will use a PHP script to check the .php file in public_html every time and write a new sitemap.xml.

PHP Code: Auto Generate Sitemap Every Time It Runs

<?php

$domain = "https://yourdomain.com";
$web_dir = __DIR__; // public_html
$today = date("Y-m-d");

$files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($web_dir));
$urls = [];

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if ($file->isFile() && pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION) === "php") {
        $path = str_replace($web_dir, "", $file->getPathname());
        $url = str_replace("\\", "/", $path);

        if (basename($url) === "index.php") {
            $url = str_replace("index.php", "", $url);
        }

        $urls[] = $url;
    }
}

//  sitemap.xml
$sitemap = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' . "\n";
$sitemap .= '<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">' . "\n";

foreach ($urls as $url) {
    $sitemap .= "  <url>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <loc>{$domain}{$url}</loc>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <lastmod>{$today}</lastmod>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>\n";
    $sitemap .= "    <priority>0.5</priority>\n";
    $sitemap .= "  </url>\n";
}

$sitemap .= "</urlset>";

file_put_contents($web_dir . "/sitemap.xml", $sitemap);

echo "✅ Sitemap updated at {$domain}/sitemap.xml";
?>

🔹 How to use

• Upload the generate_sitemap.php file to public_html.
• Call the file in the browser:

https://yourdomain.com/generate_sitemap.php

• → It will regenerate (or update) the sitemap.xml every time.
• When adding a new .php file → just run this file again and it will update the sitemap.

🔹Make it truly Auto (set up a Cron Job, no need to press it yourself)

You can use Hosting's Cron Job, for example, to run generate_sitemap.php daily/weekly.

In Hosting hPanel:

• Go to Advanced → Cron Jobs
• Add a Cron Job such as: php /home/username/public_html/generate_sitemap.php

php /home/username/public_html/generate_sitemap.php

• Then set the time to Once a day