Skip to content
Automation
Skill

/seo-sitemap

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

From plugin
benai-skills
62152 skills17 agents1 hook4 MCP
Install
$ npx -y skills add naveedharri/benai-skills --skill seo-sitemap --agent claude-code

How it fires

How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.

  • Fires itselfAuto-invocation. Claude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.Auto-invocation is when the right skill fires by itself at the right moment, driven by a FLOW.md router and a hook, instead of you invoking it by name. It is the difference between a skill being installed and a skill actually getting used.Read the full definition →
  • You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
  • Slash command/seo-sitemap

Context preview

The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.

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

SKILL.md

seo-sitemap.SKILL.md
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 mul
Read more
Ships withbenai-skills

Expert automation skills for Claude Code, organized by department.

Get the whole plugin

Other skills on benai-skills.