Sitemap Manager
Manage XML sitemaps.
Marketing teams lose hours to ad-hoc, inconsistent sitemap manager work — Manage XML sitemaps. Use when: auditing sitemap health, generating sitemaps, or planning sitemap architecture. This playbook turns the process into a repeatable, brand-aware workflow.
Who it's for: SEO specialists, content marketers, technical SEO leads, growth marketers
Example
"Run /sitemap-manager for our brand" → Sitemap Manager workflow output with brand context, structured inputs captured, process steps executed, and a complete deliverable ready for review.
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
# Sitemap Manager
# /dm:sitemap
## Purpose
Analyze existing XML sitemaps for issues and opportunities, or generate new sitemaps with industry-specific templates and best practices.
## Modes
### Mode 1: Analyze Existing Sitemap (`/dm:sitemap [URL]`)
Provide a sitemap URL (e.g., `https://example.com/sitemap.xml`) to audit:
1. **Fetch and parse**: Download sitemap XML, detect sitemap index vs single sitemap
2. **URL count**: Total URLs, URLs per sitemap file (flag if approaching 50K protocol limit)
3. **lastmod audit**: Check for presence, format (W3C datetime), staleness (>6 months without update), fake lastmod (all same date)
4. **Priority and changefreq**: Check for deprecated/ignored signals (Google ignores both — flag if present, recommend removal to reduce file size)
5. **URL health**: Sample 20-50 URLs and check HTTP status codes — flag 404s, 301s, 302s, 5xx errors
6. **Indexation alignment**: Cross-reference with robots.txt and meta robots — flag noindexed URLs in sitemap, flag sitemap URLs blocked by robots.txt
7. **Missing URLs**: Compare sitemap against site crawl or provided URL list — identify pages missing from sitemap
8. **Image/video/news sitemaps**: Check for specialized sitemap extensions
9. **Compression**: Check if sitemap is gzip compressed (recommended for large sitemaps)
10. **robots.txt registration**: Verify sitemap is declared in robots.txt
### Mode 2: Generate New Sitemap (`/dm:sitemap generate`)
Generate a sitemap plan or actual XML:
1. **Discover site structure**: Crawl from homepage or use provided URL list
2. **Categorize pages**: Group by type (homepage, category, product, blog, landing, legal)
3. **Apply industry template**: Use appropriate structure based on business model (SaaS, ecommerce, local, publisher, agency)
4. **Set lastmod**: Use actual page modification dates, not generation date
5. **Split strategy**: Plan sitemap index structure if >50K URLs or >50MB uncompressed
6. **Exclude rules**: Noindexed pages, paginated results, faceted URLs, utility pages (login, cart, search results)
7. **Generate XML**: Produce valid XML sitemap following the sitemap protocol (sitemaps.org)
## Industry Templates
### SaaS
- Homepage, features, pricing, integrations, docs, blog, changelog, about, legal
- Integration pages as separate sitemap (if 50+)
- Blog with high update frequency
### eCommerce
- Homepage, categories, products, brands, collections, blog, about, legal
- Product sitemap (largest — split if needed)
- Image sitemap for product photos
- Category pages with canonical handling for filtered views
### Local Business
- Homepage, services, locations, about, contact, blog, reviews, legal
- Location pages as separate sitemap (if multi-location)
- Service area pages
### Publisher/Media
- Homepage, sections, articles, authors, topics, about, legal
- News sitemap (for Google News inclusion)
- Video sitemap (if video content)
- High-frequency article sitemap updates
### Agency
- Homepage, services, case studies, blog, team, about, contact, legal
- Case study sitemap
- Industry/vertical landing pages
## Sitemap Protocol Reference
```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>2026-03-15</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>
```
### Sitemap Index (for multiple sitemaps)
```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>2026-03-15</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-03-28</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>
```
### Protocol Limits
- 50,000 URLs per sitemap file
- 50MB uncompressed per sitemap file
- Unlimited sitemap files in a sitemap index
- Must use absolute URLs
- UTF-8 encoding required
- Entity escaping for special characters (& ' " > <)
## Output
### Sitemap Analysis Report
- Total URLs indexed, health status breakdown
- Issues found with severity (critical/high/medium/low)
- Missing pages that should be in the sitemap
- Recommendations sorted by impact
### Sitemap Generation Output
- Complete XML sitemap(s) or sitemap plan
- Sitemap index if multiple files needed
- robots.txt sitemap declaration line
- Submission instructions for Google Search Console
## Agents Used
- **seo-specialist** — Sitemap analysis, URL health checks, architecture recommendations
## Scripts Used
- **tech-seo-auditor.py** — URL health checking (status codes, redirects)
What This Does
Analyze existing XML sitemaps for issues and opportunities, or generate new sitemaps with industry-specific templates and best practices.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
Create a dedicated folder for this workflow (e.g. ~/marketing/sitemap-manager).
Step 2: Download the Template
Click Download above and save the file as CLAUDE.md in that folder.
Step 3: Run the Workflow
Open the folder in Claude Code and describe your goal. Claude will prompt you for any missing inputs, follow the structured process, and produce a complete deliverable.
Inputs You'll Need
Claude will prompt for the brand context, objective, and any asset references needed to produce the deliverable.
How It Works
Claude loads the active brand profile, gathers inputs, executes the defined workflow, and produces the structured deliverable.
What You Get
Sitemap Analysis Report
- Total URLs indexed, health status breakdown
- Issues found with severity (critical/high/medium/low)
- Missing pages that should be in the sitemap
- Recommendations sorted by impact
Sitemap Generation Output
- Complete XML sitemap(s) or sitemap plan
- Sitemap index if multiple files needed
- robots.txt sitemap declaration line
- Submission instructions for Google Search Console