When is it worth splitting a sitemap?
I reviewed the sitemap of a site I manage: it holds 75 URLs in a single file, and at that volume keeping it in one piece is reasonable. When and how to split it if the content grows.
Pool DezaFounder of IA Systems & Data1 min read
I reviewed the sitemap of a site I manage: today it holds 75 URLs in a single file. At that volume, keeping it in one piece is reasonable.
If the content grows, I’d design an index that groups sitemaps by section, for example: main pages, blog, and projects. Each file would be generated from its content source and would pass validation checks before being published:
- Absolute URLs, with no duplicates.
- Accessible, indexable pages with a consistent canonical URL.
lastmodbased on meaningful changes to the page, not on every deployment.
What would I gain by splitting it? I could filter Search Console’s Page indexing report by sitemap and spot whether the issues are concentrated in a specific section.
Google requires you to split a sitemap if it exceeds 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed. Below that point, the decision depends on whether splitting makes management and diagnosis easier. On its own, it doesn’t guarantee indexing or better rankings.
Do you organize your sitemaps by content type, language, or update frequency?
