How do I enable an automatically generated Webflow sitemap?

Definition: A sitemap is a file listing website page addresses for search engines. As of 17 October 2026, Webflow can generate sitemap.xml for a site hosted with Webflow when automatic generation is enabled and the site is published.

Key facts

• Webflow's sitemap documentation says the generated file updates each time the site is published.
• Google's Sitemaps report documentation requires owner permissions to submit a sitemap through that report.
• Google's sitemap construction guide describes submission as a hint to Google about the file's location.

Where is the automatic sitemap setting?

Webflow's setup instructions specify this sequence:

1. Open Site settings > SEO tab > Sitemap section.
2. Set Auto-generate sitemap to Yes.
3. Click Save changes.
4. Publish the site.

Saving and publishing are separate steps in this procedure. Once published, the sitemap is available at the following path on the site's domain:

/sitemap.xml

Webflow also automatically adds the sitemap address to the site's robots.txt, the file used to communicate crawler rules and sitemap locations. A manually repeated sitemap reference is unnecessary for this setup.

How is the published file checked?

Google's Sitemaps report help states that the sitemap must be accessible to Googlebot, Google's crawler, without a login requirement. Search Console's live URL Inspection test checks access to the sitemap address. The expected Page fetch result is Successful.

For a submitted sitemap, the report's Last read field records when Google last fetched the file. A Success result means Google fetched and read the sitemap without errors. If the result is Couldn't fetch, opening the sitemap's row provides failure details.

How is the sitemap submitted to Google?

Google's submission guidance identifies the Sitemaps report as a way to track Googlebot access and processing errors. It also recommends complete, absolute page addresses within sitemap files, including the domain and protocol.

Google's report instructions place the published sitemap address in Add a new sitemap, followed by Submit. Submission gives Google the file's location; Google treats that information as a hint when deciding whether to download and use it for crawling.

Related terms

• XML sitemap
• Where do I edit robots.txt in Webflow?
• How do I exclude a Webflow page from the sitemap?

FAQ

Must I publish after enabling automatic generation?

Yes. Webflow's enablement procedure ends with publishing your site after saving the setting.

Why is my sitemap absent from the Sitemaps report?

Google's report documentation says it lists sitemaps submitted through the report or its application programming interface (API). A sitemap found through a robots.txt reference can be absent; you can submit it through the report to track its processing.

Sources

1. Webflow, "Create a sitemap in Webflow", 19 August 2026
2. Google Search Console Help, "Sitemaps report", accessed 17 October 2026
3. Google Search Central, "Build and submit a sitemap", accessed 17 October 2026

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