What Is Sitemap Priority in SEO?
Use Cases
Helps guide search engines to important pages like product categories or lead-generation pages, making sure they are crawled more often.
On enterprise sites with thousands of URLs, sitemap priority assigns higher values to high-traffic or revenue-generating pages to optimize crawl efficiency.
Increases the priority of seasonal or time-sensitive landing pages to ensure faster indexing during critical periods.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do search engines follow sitemap priority values strictly?
No, search engines use priority values as a suggestion, not a rule. They consider it along with other signals like backlinks and content freshness.
What is a good value to use for priority?
Values range from 0.0 to 1.0. Use 1.0 for core pages like home or landing pages, and lower values for less critical content.
Is sitemap priority still relevant for SEO today?
Yes, while not a ranking factor, it's still helpful for guiding crawl behavior, especially on large or complex websites.
Can I leave sitemap priority out completely?
Update them when your site structure, content strategy, or traffic goals change—especially during major campaigns or redesigns.
How often should I update sitemap priorities?
Absolutely. AI tools like SpotRise can monitor site performance and automatically adjust priorities for optimal indexing.
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