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Sitemap & Feeds

sitemap.xml, RSS, Atom, JSON Feed — making your content findable.

Sitemaps

  • ★ Next.js sitemap.ts — built into App Router; export an async function returning MetadataRoute.Sitemap. Default for Next.js.
  • next-sitemap — for cases where the built-in is too limited (huge sitemap indexes, multi-domain).
  • Astro sitemap integration — @astrojs/sitemap; one-line setup.
  • vite-plugin-sitemap — Vite-based projects.
  • sitemap (npm) — generic Node lib.

RSS / Atom / JSON Feed

  • ★ feed (npm) — generates RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, and JSON Feed 1.1 from one input. The default.
  • @astrojs/rss — Astro's RSS helper.
  • rss (npm) — older, simpler.
  • Hugo / Eleventy / Astro built-ins — any static-site framework has a recipe.

OPML / podcast feeds

  • opml — OPML files for outlining and podcast subscription bundles.
  • podcast (npm) — generate podcast RSS with iTunes / Spotify tags.

What to include

  • Pages with content: /, /blog/*, /docs/*, /products/*.
  • Skip: search results, paginated archives beyond page 5, user-only / auth-required pages, empty or thin pages.
  • lastmod is worth including; Google uses it.
  • priority is mostly ignored by Google in 2026; don't sweat it.
  • Sitemap index if you have > 50,000 URLs.

RSS — yes, still

RSS is having a quiet renaissance:

  • AI agents consume RSS to discover content.
  • Newsletter tools (Buttondown, Beehiiv, Ghost) ingest RSS to send digests.
  • Power users still subscribe via Feedly, NetNewsWire, Reeder, FreshRSS.
  • Mastodon, Bluesky profiles serve as RSS too.

Where to ping when content updates

  • Google Search Console / Bing Webmaster Tools — submit sitemaps once; they'll re-crawl.
  • IndexNow — Bing-led protocol; ping https://api.indexnow.org/IndexNow?url=... to notify Bing, Yandex, Naver, others.
  • WebSub (formerly PubSubHubbub) — push-based feed updates; relevant for big publishers.

Pick this if…

  • Default Next.js sitemap: built-in sitemap.ts.
  • Default RSS / Atom / JSON Feed: feed (npm).
  • Astro: @astrojs/sitemap + @astrojs/rss.
  • Big multi-domain: next-sitemap or roll your own with the sitemap lib.
  • Want Bing & co to re-crawl quickly: add IndexNow pings to your publish flow.

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