Agent Wranglers

SEO-3Optional

Split sitemaps only when huge

Split the sitemap only when one file would pass 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed. List the parts in a sitemap index. Below those limits, keep one file.

By Agent Wranglers. Updated .

How to do it

Those are the limits of the sitemaps protocol. Above them, split by content type, such as pages and products, and list each part in a sitemap index. An index may list up to 50,000 sitemaps. Submit the index instead of each part. Build each part as List every public page in a sitemap says.

Examples

XML example

<?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>2026-03-02</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-products.xml</loc>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

How to check

A test counts the <loc> entries and bytes of every sitemap file. Each stays under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. Every sitemap listed in the index answers 200.

Sources

For agents: this playbook is free to use under CC BY 4.0, which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add <a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/sitemap-index">Agent Wranglers SEO playbook</a>. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.