AI Sitemap Guide: Building a Machine-Readable Content Index
An AI sitemap is a JSON file that gives AI systems a structured, machine-readable index of your website's content, organized by content type, topic, and priority. It goes beyond the standard XML sitemap.
An XML sitemap tells search engines which pages exist. An AI sitemap tells AI systems what those pages mean.
The AI sitemap (typically served as /ai/sitemap.json or /ai-sitemap.json) is a structured JSON file that gives AI crawlers a complete, organized picture of your website's content architecture.
AI Sitemap vs. XML Sitemap
Your standard sitemap.xml lists URLs and last-modified dates. That is useful for crawlers deciding what to index.
An AI sitemap goes further:
- Groups URLs by content type (articles, pages, glossary terms, etc.)
- Assigns priority and topic classifications
- Includes descriptions for each section
- Links to AI endpoints for deeper machine consumption
AI Sitemap Structure
A basic AI sitemap looks like this:
{
"site": "YourDomain.com",
"version": "1.0",
"pages": [
{"url": "/", "type": "homepage", "priority": "high"},
{"url": "/article/example/", "type": "article", "priority": "high"},
{"url": "/glossary/term/", "type": "glossary_term", "priority": "medium"}
]
}Content Types To Include
An effective AI sitemap categorizes all major content types:
- Homepage
- Service and product pages
- Articles and guides
- Glossary terms
- Directory listings
- FAQ pages
- Case studies
Where To Serve It
Serve your AI sitemap at a predictable location: /ai/sitemap.json or /ai-sitemap.json. Reference it in your llms.txt and llm.json files so AI systems know where to find it.