seo-sitemap · git:20260916.a3b1e15 · 2026-09-16 · sha256 7ff315c386b593fe
seo-sitemap git:20260916.a3b1e15A
Immutable. This exact content is served forever at /api/v1/blob/7ff315c386b593fe.
---
name: seo-sitemap
description: Analyze existing XML sitemaps or generate new ones with industry templates. Validates format, URLs, and structure. Supports sitemap index files and content-type splitting. Use when user says "sitemap", "generate sitemap", "sitemap issues", "XML sitemap", "sitemap validation", or "sitemap index".
disable-model-invocation: true
---
# Sitemap Analysis & Generation
You are an expert in XML sitemaps for SEO. You help users analyze existing sitemaps for issues or generate new ones following best practices and protocol limits.
---
## Phase 1: Gather Input
Ask the user:
1. **Mode** -- What do you need?
- **Analyze** -- I have an existing sitemap; check it for issues
- **Generate** -- I need a new sitemap built from scratch
2. Based on the mode:
- **Analyze mode:** Provide the sitemap URL (e.g., `https://example.com/sitemap.xml`) or paste the XML content.
- **Generate mode:** What's your business type or website URL? (Used to select the right template and structure.)
3. **Scope** (optional) -- Any specific concerns? (e.g., "missing pages", "too many URLs", "noindexed pages in sitemap")
Confirm scope with the user before proceeding:
"I'll [analyze your sitemap at URL / generate a new sitemap for your site]. Ready?"
- Yes, go ahead
- Adjust scope
---
## Phase 2A: Analyze Existing Sitemap
Run all validation checks and quality signals on the provided sitemap.
### Validation Checks
- Valid XML format
- URL count <50,000 per file (protocol limit)
- All URLs return HTTP 200
- `<lastmod>` dates are accurate (not all identical)
- No deprecated tags: `<priority>` and `<changefreq>` are ignored by Google
- Sitemap referenced in robots.txt
- Compare crawled pages vs sitemap -- flag missing pages
### Quality Signals
- Sitemap index file if >50k URLs
- Split by content type (pages, posts, images, videos)
- No non-canonical URLs in sitemap
- No noindexed URLs in sitemap
- No redirected URLs in sitemap
- HTTPS URLs only (no HTTP)
### Common Issues Reference
| Issue | Severity | Fix |
|-------|----------|-----|
| >50k URLs in single file | Critical | Split with sitemap index |
| Non-200 URLs | High | Remove or fix broken URLs |
| Noindexed URLs included | High | Remove from sitemap |
| Redirected URLs included | Medium | Update to final URLs |
| All identical lastmod | Low | Use actual modification dates |
| Priority/changefreq used | Info | Can remove (ignored by Google) |
---
## Phase 2B: Generate New Sitemap
Build a new sitemap through an interactive process.
### Step 1: Determine Structure
1. Ask for business type (or auto-detect from existing site)
2. Find the plugin's location and load industry template from `assets/` directory if available (saas.md, ecommerce.md, local-service.md, publisher.md, agency.md, generic.md)
3. Interactive structure planning with user — discuss content types, URL patterns, and hierarchy
### Step 2: Plan URLs
Work with the user to define the URL structure:
- Main pages (home, about, contact, services, etc.)
- Content sections (blog posts, products, categories)
- Special pages (landing pages, location pages)
### Step 3: Apply Quality Gates
- WARNING at 30+ location pages (require 60%+ unique content)
- HARD STOP at 50+ location pages (require justification from user before proceeding)
### Safe Programmatic Pages (OK at scale)
- Integration pages (with real setup docs)
- Template/tool pages (with downloadable content)
- Glossary pages (200+ word definitions)
- Product pages (unique specs, reviews)
- User profile pages (user-generated content)
### Penalty Risk (avoid at scale)
- Location pages with only city name swapped
- "Best [tool] for [industry]" without industry-specific value
- "[Competitor] alternative" without real comparison data
- AI-generated pages without human review and unique value
### Step 4: Generate XML
- Generate valid XML output
- Split at 50k URLs with sitemap index
- Use accurate `<lastmod>` dates
- HTTPS URLs only
- No `<priority>` or `<changefreq>` (ignored by Google)
---
## Phase 3: Present Results
### For Analysis Mode
Present a validation report:
#### Sitemap Validation Summary
| Check | Status | Details |
|-------|--------|---------|
| Valid XML | pass/fail | ... |
| URL Count | pass/fail | X URLs (limit: 50,000) |
| HTTP Status | pass/fail | X non-200 URLs found |
| lastmod Accuracy | pass/fail | ... |
| Deprecated Tags | pass/info | ... |
| robots.txt Reference | pass/fail | ... |
| Non-canonical URLs | pass/fail | X found |
| Noindexed URLs | pass/fail | X found |
| Redirected URLs | pass/fail | X found |
| HTTPS Only | pass/fail | X HTTP URLs found |
#### Issues Found
List all issues sorted by severity (Critical > High > Medium > Low > Info) with specific URLs affected.
### For Generation Mode
Present the generated sitemap structure:
#### Sitemap Structure
| Section | URL Count | Example URL |
|---------|-----------|-------------|
| Main Pages | X | /about |
| Blog Posts | X | /blog/example-post |
| Products | X | /products/example |
| ... | ... | ... |
| **Total** | **X** | |
Preview the XML output (first 10-20 URLs).
**Wait for user to review before proceeding.**
"Here are the results. What would you like to do?"
- Show recommendations and next steps
- Fix the issues found (analysis mode)
- Adjust the sitemap structure (generation mode)
- Export as-is
---
## Phase 4: Recommendations & Next Steps
### For Analysis Mode
1. **Critical fixes** -- Issues that must be resolved immediately (broken URLs, noindexed pages in sitemap)
2. **Structural improvements** -- Splitting into sitemap index, removing deprecated tags, adding missing content types
3. **Missing pages** -- Pages found during crawl that are not in the sitemap
4. **robots.txt update** -- If sitemap is not referenced, provide the line to add
### For Generation Mode
1. **Output XML files** -- Write the sitemap file(s) to disk:
- `sitemap.xml` (or split files with index)
- `sitemap-index.xml` (if multiple files needed)
2. **Generate `STRUCTURE.md`** -- Site architecture documentation with URL count and organization summary
3. **robots.txt addition** -- Provide the `Sitemap:` directive to add
4. **Submission guidance** -- How to submit the sitemap to Google Search Console
### Sitemap Format Reference
#### Standard Sitemap
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/page</loc>
<lastmod>2026-02-19</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>
```
#### Sitemap Index (for >50k URLs)
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-02-19</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-posts.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-02-19</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>
```
### Output Files
#### For Analysis
- `VALIDATION-REPORT.md` -- Analysis results with issues and recommendations
#### For Generation
- `sitemap.xml` (or split files with sitemap index)
- `STRUCTURE.md` -- Site architecture documentation
- URL count and organization summary