Verified Confidence: high
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
Safe rephrasing
Google says each sitemap file can hold at most 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed; bigger sites must split it into several sitemaps.
What the source says
All formats limit a single sitemap to 50MB (uncompressed) or 50,000 URLs. If you have a larger file or more URLs, you must break your sitemap into multiple sitemaps.
Google Search Central — Build and submit a sitemap
- Commonly cited as
- "How many URLs can a sitemap have?"
- True origin
- Google Search Central — Build and submit a sitemap
- Type
- Reference fact: A frequently needed number or rule taken directly from a primary source (e.g. Pew, Census, IAB/PwC, FTC), with its as-of date.
- Year
- Current documentation
- Data as of
- Documentation read on 2026-10-17
- Last checked
- Method & sample
- Official Google documentation (current version read Oct. 17, 2026).
- Drift between quote and source
- Larger sites use multiple sitemaps or a sitemap index file
- Interest
- Google operates Google Search and documents its own systems.