Prepare Your XML Source for Genii

This guide walks you through preparing your XML sources before submitting them to Genii. It describes what the platform accepts, what you need to set up on your side, and how to avoid the most common import errors.

1. Format of your source URL

The URL you provide must follow these rules:

Criterion	Rule
Protocol	`https://` is mandatory
Domain	Valid domain name (letters, digits, hyphens). No IP address, no port.
File extension	`.xml`, `.xml.gz`, `.gz`, or `.aspx`
Query string	Allowed (e.g. `?lang=fr`)
Trailing slash	Tolerated after the extension

Valid examples

<https://example.com/sitemap.xml>
<https://example.com/sitemap.xml.gz>
<https://example.com/sitemaps/pages.gz>
<https://example.com/feeds/sitemap.aspx>
<https://example.com/feeds/sitemap.aspx?lang=fr>
<https://example.com/sitemap.xml/>

Invalid examples

<http://example.com/sitemap.xml>        ← http:// not allowed
<https://example.com/sitemap>           ← missing extension
<https://example.com/sitemap.json>      ← unsupported extension
<https://192.168.1.1/sitemap.xml>       ← IP address not allowed
<https://example.com:8080/sitemap.xml>  ← port not allowed
<ftp://example.com/sitemap.xml>         ← unsupported protocol

2. Accepted XML formats

Genii recognizes three formats. The format is detected automatically when your file is read.

Format 1 — Standard sitemap (`<urlset>`)

The most common format, compliant with the sitemaps.org protocol.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="<http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9>">

  <url>
    <loc><https://example.com/page-1></loc>
    <lastmod>2024-06-01</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc><https://example.com/page-2></loc>
  </url>

</urlset>

Fields recognized inside each <url>:

Field	Required	What Genii does with it
`<loc>`	Yes	URL of the page to index
`<lastmod>`	Recommended	Lets Genii skip pages that are already up to date during a synchronization. Without `<lastmod>`, every page is systematically reprocessed, which lengthens synchronization times and consumes resources unnecessarily.
`<changefreq>`	Optional	Stored for reference only.
`<priority>`	Recommended	Determines the order in which pages are processed (highest priority first). Useful on large catalogs to refresh the most strategic pages first.