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XML namespace

Sitemap protocol 0.9

The namespace every sitemap.xml and sitemap index must declare. Almost always the default namespace.

xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"

This is the only namespace search engines recognise for sitemap files. It is shared by both document types in the protocol: <urlset> for a sitemap and <sitemapindex> for an index that points at other sitemaps.

It is nearly always declared as the default namespace, so the elements inside appear unprefixed. A sitemap that omits the declaration, or declares the https:// form instead of http://, is a well-formed XML document that crawlers will still reject — the URI is matched literally.

URI
http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9
Prefix
Usually the default namespace
Elements
urlsetsitemapindexurlsitemaploclastmodchangefreqpriority

Specification: sitemaps.org protocol

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