Image Sitemap

TL;DR — An image sitemap is a list of the images on your pages that you hand to Google so it doesn’t miss any — especially images that load with JavaScript or get served in a way a normal crawl can’t see. It’s not a separate magic file: you add a few image tags to a normal XML sitemap. It helps Google find images; it doesn’t make them rank.

What an image sitemap is

When Google crawls a page, it usually finds the images on it just fine — they’re right there in the HTML. But sometimes images are loaded by JavaScript after the page renders, or pulled from a separate image server, or swapped in dynamically. Those are the ones Google can miss. An image sitemap is how you point Google straight at them.

The important thing to understand up front: an image sitemap isn’t a special new kind of file. It’s a normal XML sitemap with some extra image tags added. You tell Google “I’m including image info” by adding an image namespace to the file, and then, for each page, you list the images that appear on it.

Standalone file or added to your existing sitemap?

Both work. You can:

• Add image tags to your existing sitemap — keep one file, just enrich it with image info, or
• Make a separate image-only sitemap — handy if a plugin or build step generates it for you.

Google doesn’t prefer one over the other. Use whatever your CMS or generator makes easiest.

The two tags you actually need

Inside the <url> entry for a page, you wrap each image in an <image:image> block, and inside that you give Google the image’s location with <image:loc>. That’s the minimum. A page can list up to 1,000 images this way.

The one thing you must not forget is the image namespace at the top of the file. Without it, Google treats your image tags as gibberish and ignores them.

Does this help me rank in Google Images?

Indirectly, at most. An image sitemap helps Google discover your images — that’s its whole job. Whether those images then show up well in Google Images comes down to the usual image-SEO stuff: good alt text, descriptive filenames, fast-loading files, and images that are actually relevant to the page. The sitemap gets you in the door; it doesn’t decide where you sit.

Want the namespace details, the tags Google quietly deprecated, accepted file formats, and how cross-domain images work? Switch to the Advanced tab.

TL;DR — An image sitemap is an extension to a normal XML sitemap: add the namespace http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1 to <urlset>, then nest <image:image> → <image:loc> inside each <url> (up to 1,000 images per URL). Without the namespace the image tags are ignored. Standalone file or tags in an existing sitemap — both are fine. It surfaces images Google might miss (JS-loaded, dynamically served). Google deprecated image:caption, image:geo_location, image:title, and image:license in August 2022 — leave them or remove them, no indexing effect either way. Accepted image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, AVIF. Cross-domain images work if both domains are verified in Search Console and robots.txt allows crawling. Bing doesn’t document image-sitemap support.

What it is, mechanically

An image sitemap is a sitemap extension, not a distinct file type. You take a standard XML sitemap and add Google’s image namespace to the root <urlset> element:

xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1"

Then, inside the <url> block for each page, you add one <image:image> element per image, each containing an <image:loc> with the image file’s URL. Google’s docs describe <image:image> as the element that “[encloses] all information about a single image,” and note that each <url> tag can contain up to 1,000 <image:image> tags. So the structure is: one <url> per page → many <image:image> per <url> → one <image:loc> per image.

That namespace line is load-bearing. Leave it off and Google ignores the image tags entirely — they’re just unknown XML to it. This is the single most common reason an “image sitemap” does nothing.

Minimal valid structure

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/sample.html</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/image.jpg</image:loc>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

The Scripts lens keeps the expanded version for multiple images and implementation checks; this is the smallest useful shape to compare against generated output.

Why bother — discovery of images Google might miss

If your images sit in plain <img src="…"> tags in the served HTML, Google generally finds them through the normal crawl and you don’t strictly need an image sitemap. The case for one is discovery of images the crawl can’t easily see: images loaded or swapped in by JavaScript, images served dynamically, or images referenced in a way that isn’t a clean HTML src. Listing them explicitly gives Google a direct path to images it would otherwise overlook. Like every sitemap, this is a discovery aid — it doesn’t guarantee indexing, and it isn’t a ranking lever.

Standalone file vs. tags in an existing sitemap

There’s no right answer here — Google accepts both. You can keep everything in one sitemap and just add image tags to the relevant <url> entries, or generate a dedicated image-only sitemap (often what a plugin does) and submit it alongside your regular one. Pick whichever your toolchain produces cleanly. If you’re on a JS framework, search the framework name plus “sitemap image” before hand-rolling anything — there’s usually a module that already does it.

The deprecated tags — and why you needn’t panic

This is where most third-party guides are out of date. In August 2022 Google removed four image tags from its documentation: <image:caption>, <image:geo_location>, <image:title>, and <image:license>. Google’s docs say plainly that it “removed the following tags and attributes from our documentation,” listing exactly those four.

Crucially, removing them from the docs did not mean you had to rush out and strip them from your files. Gary Illyes was explicit that, for plugin developers and anyone managing their own sitemaps, “there’s no immediate action required; you can leave these tags and attributes in place without drawbacks.” There’s no penalty and no indexing effect either way. So if your generator still emits them, leave it; if you’d rather have a clean file, remove them. Both are fine — just don’t treat their presence as a problem to fix urgently.

The two tags that still matter are the structural ones: <image:image> and <image:loc>. That’s the current, supported surface area.

Accepted image file formats

A reasonable question before you bother listing an image: will Google even index it? Google Search supports images in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF — its docs say it “supports images referenced in the src attribute of img in the following file formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF.” Your <image:loc> URL should point at a crawlable file in one of those formats. Point it at something Google can’t read and listing it in a sitemap won’t help.

Cross-domain images

Your images don’t have to live on the same domain as the page that displays them — a CDN or dedicated image host is fine. But there are two conditions for Google to use cross-domain image references in a sitemap:

1. Both domains must be verified in Search Console (the page’s domain and the image host’s domain), and
2. The image host’s robots.txt must allow Googlebot to crawl the image files.

Miss either one and the cross-domain images won’t be picked up. If you serve images from an image subdomain or third-party CDN, verify that property and check its robots.txt before you assume the sitemap is doing its job.

Best practices

The sitemap is plumbing; the image-SEO fundamentals still apply. Follow Google’s Google Images publishing guidelines: descriptive, accurate alt text; meaningful filenames; high-quality, fast-loading images that are genuinely relevant to the page they sit on; and a stable, crawlable URL for each image file. List only images you actually want surfaced, and keep the <image:loc> URLs in a supported format. The sitemap improves discovery; these practices are what decide whether the discovered images do anything for you.

A note on Bing

This is a Google extension. Bing does not document support for image sitemaps — its sitemap guidance defers to the base sitemaps.org protocol rather than adding an image namespace of its own. So don’t assume the <image:image> tags do anything for Bing; treat the image sitemap as a Google-specific tool.

Where this sits

An image sitemap is one member of a small family of sitemap extensions. The base XML sitemap lists your page URLs; a video sitemap does the same job as this one but for video, with its own namespace and tags; a sitemap index is the sitemap-of-sitemaps you use once you outgrow a single file; and the broader sitemaps overview ties them together. All of them are about the same goal that sits at the top of this cluster — discovery.

AI summary

A condensed take on the Advanced version:

• An image sitemap is an extension to a normal XML sitemap, not a separate file type. Add the namespace http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1 to <urlset>; without it, the image tags are ignored.
• Structure: inside each <url>, nest <image:image> → <image:loc> (the image file URL). Up to 1,000 <image:image> tags per <url>.
• Why: to surface images Google might miss — JavaScript-loaded or dynamically served. It aids discovery, not ranking, and doesn’t guarantee indexing.
• Placement: a standalone image-only file or image tags in your existing sitemap — both are fine.
• Deprecated Aug 2022: image:caption, image:geo_location, image:title, image:license were removed from the docs. Leaving them in place has no indexing effect and no penalty — remove or keep, your choice.
• Accepted image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, AVIF. Point <image:loc> at a crawlable file in one of these.
• Cross-domain images: allowed if both domains are verified in Search Console and the image host’s robots.txt allows crawling.
• Best practices: Google Images publishing guidelines — good alt text, descriptive filenames, relevant high-quality images at stable URLs.
• Bing does not document image-sitemap support (it defers to sitemaps.org) — treat this as a Google-only tool.

Official documentation

Primary-source documentation from the search engines.

Google

• Image sitemaps — the <image:image> / <image:loc> reference, the 1,000-images-per-URL limit, and the namespace.
• Build and submit a sitemap — the base XML sitemap format the image extension sits on top of.
• Combine sitemap extensions — how to put image (and video) tags in one sitemap alongside your page URLs.
• Google Images best practices (SEO) — the accepted image file formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, AVIF) and the publishing guidelines an image sitemap rides on.
• Sitemaps overview — where image sitemaps fit among the sitemap types, and the “discovery, not indexing guarantee” framing.

Bing / Microsoft

• Bing does not publish image-sitemap documentation — its sitemap guidance defers to the base sitemaps.org protocol. There’s no Bing image namespace to link.

Quotes from the source

On-the-record statements from Google. Each link is a deep link that jumps to the quoted passage on the source page.

Google — the image:image tag and the per-URL limit

• “Encloses all information about a single image. Each <url> tag can contain up to 1,000 <image:image> tags.” — Google Search Central, image sitemaps. Jump to quote

Google — the tags it deprecated in August 2022

• “We removed the following tags and attributes from our documentation: <image:caption>, <image:geo_location>, <image:title>, <image:license>.” — Google Search Central, image sitemaps. Jump to quote

Gary Illyes, Google (on the August 2022 deprecation — why you needn’t act)

• “there’s no immediate action required; you can leave these tags and attributes in place without drawbacks.” Read the coverage

Google — accepted image file formats

• “Google Search supports images referenced in the src attribute of img in the following file formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF.” — Google Images best practices. Jump to quote

Image sitemap — cheat sheet

Current tags (the ones that still matter)

Deprecated tags — removed from the docs Aug 2022 (safe to leave; no indexing effect)

• <image:caption>
• <image:geo_location>
• <image:title>
• <image:license>

Leave them in place or strip them out — either way there’s no penalty and no indexing impact. Don’t treat their presence as a fire to put out.

Accepted image file formats

Point <image:loc> at a crawlable file in one of these.

Fast facts

• An image sitemap is an extension to a normal XML sitemap, not a separate file type. Standalone file or tags in your existing sitemap — both fine.
• Its job is discovery (images Google might miss: JS-loaded, dynamically served) — not indexing guarantees, not ranking.
• Cross-domain images: both domains verified in Search Console + the image host’s robots.txt allows crawling.
• Bing does not document image-sitemap support — treat it as Google-specific.

A minimal valid image sitemap

The smallest correct example: a <urlset> with the image namespace, one <url>, and one image. Note the two namespaces on <urlset> — the base sitemaps.org one and Google’s image one. Drop the image namespace and the <image:*> tags are ignored.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/sample.html</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://example.com/image.jpg</image:loc>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

Multiple images on one page just means multiple <image:image> blocks inside the same <url> (up to 1,000):

<url>
  <loc>https://example.com/gallery.html</loc>
  <image:image>
    <image:loc>https://example.com/photo-1.jpg</image:loc>
  </image:image>
  <image:image>
    <image:loc>https://example.com/photo-2.webp</image:loc>
  </image:image>
</url>

Add image tags to an existing sitemap vs. a standalone file

You don’t have to maintain a separate image sitemap. Both of these are acceptable to Google:

• Folded into your existing sitemap — just add the xmlns:image="…" namespace to your current <urlset> and drop <image:image> blocks into the relevant <url> entries. One file, enriched.
• A dedicated image-only sitemap — a separate file containing only the image tags (often what a plugin generates). Submit it alongside your regular sitemap.

There’s no preference and no advantage to either — choose whatever your CMS, plugin, or build step produces cleanly, and submit it in Search Console the same way you’d submit any sitemap.

Resources worth your time

My related writing

• The Beginner’s Guide to Technical SEO — where sitemaps and image discovery fit in the bigger picture.
• Image SEO: 12 Actionable Tips (for More Organic Traffic) — the alt text, filenames, and file-format work that decides whether discovered images actually perform.

Official

• Google’s image sitemaps and Google Images best practices docs — the current tag list and the accepted formats. Most third-party guides still document the deprecated tags; go to the source.

From around the industry

• Google Deprecates Image Sitemap Tags (Search Engine Roundtable) — contemporaneous coverage of the August 2022 deprecation announcement, including Gary Illyes’s statement that no immediate action is required.
• sitemaps.org protocol — the base XML sitemap spec that image sitemaps extend; useful for understanding the <urlset> and <url> structure before adding image tags.
• Image SEO Guide (Search Engine Journal) — covers the broader image optimization practices (alt text, file formats, filenames) that determine whether discovered images actually perform.

What not to do

Forgetting the image namespace on <urlset> Why it’s wrong: without xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1", every <image:image> block you add is just unrecognized XML — Google ignores all of it, silently. This is the single most common way an “image sitemap” does nothing. Do instead: add the namespace declaration to <urlset> first, before adding any image tags, and confirm it’s there any time you troubleshoot an image sitemap that “isn’t working.”

Expecting an image sitemap to improve Google Images rankings Why it’s wrong: the sitemap’s job is discovery — pointing Google at images it might otherwise miss. It has no effect on whether those images rank well once found. Do instead: treat the sitemap as plumbing and put the real effort into image-SEO fundamentals — descriptive alt text, meaningful filenames, fast-loading files, and genuine relevance to the page.

Rushing to strip the deprecated tags out of fear of a penalty Why it’s wrong: Google removed <image:caption>, <image:geo_location>, <image:title>, and <image:license> from its documentation in August 2022, and Gary Illyes said explicitly there’s no immediate action required and no drawback to leaving them in place. Treating this as an urgent cleanup wastes effort on a non-issue. Do instead: leave the tags if your generator already emits them; remove them only if you’re tidying the file anyway, not because you think they’re hurting you.

Assuming cross-domain images just work because you added <image:loc> Why it’s wrong: Google only picks up cross-domain image references when both the page’s domain and the image host’s domain are verified in Search Console, and the image host’s robots.txt allows Googlebot to crawl the files. Skip either condition and the images are ignored. Do instead: verify the image-hosting property (CDN or image subdomain) in Search Console and check its robots.txt before assuming a cross-domain image sitemap is doing anything.

Listing images in formats Google doesn’t index Why it’s wrong: Google Search only supports BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF for images referenced in src. Pointing <image:loc> at an unsupported format means the listing is pointless even though the XML is valid. Do instead: confirm every <image:loc> URL resolves to a file in a supported format before adding it to the sitemap.

Building or adding an image sitemap

1. Decide standalone vs. merged — a dedicated image-only sitemap, or image tags folded into your existing XML sitemap. Google has no preference; pick whichever your CMS or build step produces cleanly.
2. Add the image namespace — xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1" on the root <urlset> element. Without it, every image tag below is ignored.
3. Nest <image:image> inside each relevant <url> — one block per image, each with an <image:loc> pointing at the image file’s crawlable URL. Cap it at 1,000 <image:image> tags per <url>.
4. Check the file formats — confirm each <image:loc> points to a BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, or AVIF file. Anything else won’t be indexed even if it’s listed correctly.
5. Handle deprecated tags deliberately — if your generator still emits <image:caption>, <image:geo_location>, <image:title>, or <image:license>, decide once whether to leave them (no harm) or strip them (cleaner file), and move on.
6. Verify cross-domain setup if images live elsewhere — if images are served from a CDN or image subdomain, verify that property in Search Console and confirm its robots.txt allows Googlebot to crawl the image files.
7. Validate in layers, not just XML syntax — a well-formed file with a valid namespace only proves the file is readable; it doesn’t prove the images are indexable. Check each layer separately: the XML validates against the namespace and nests correctly; the host page itself is eligible for indexing (not blocked by robots.txt or noindex); each <image:loc> URL returns a successful response in a supported format; and Googlebot has crawl permission for the image files (same robots.txt check as the cross-domain case above). A syntactically valid sitemap that points at a blocked or broken image still won’t get that image discovered.
8. Submit in Search Console — same process as any other sitemap.
9. Confirm the image-SEO fundamentals separately — alt text, filenames, quality, and relevance are what decide whether discovered images perform; the sitemap only gets them found.

Tools for building and checking an image sitemap

• XML Sitemap Generator — build a base sitemap you can then extend with the image namespace and <image:image> blocks, or generate one that already includes image tags depending on your setup.
• Sitemap Validator — check that your finished file is well-formed XML, that the image namespace is present, and that <image:image> / <image:loc> are nested correctly before you submit it.
• Image SEO Checker — once images are discoverable, check the fundamentals that decide whether they perform: alt text, filenames, and file quality.
• Search Console — submit the sitemap, and if you’re using cross-domain image hosting, verify the image host’s property here too; without that verification the cross-domain images in your sitemap are ignored.

Quiz

Five questions to check what actually stuck from the Advanced tab.

Image sitemap

An image sitemap is a sitemap (or an extension added to an existing sitemap) that lists the images on your pages using Google's image namespace, helping Google discover images it might otherwise miss.

Related: Sitemap, XML sitemap, Video sitemap

Image sitemap

An image sitemap isn’t a separate kind of file so much as an extension to a normal XML sitemap. You add Google’s image namespace — http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1 — to the <urlset>, then nest one or more <image:image> blocks (each with an <image:loc> pointing at the image file) inside the <url> entry for the page the image appears on. You can put these tags in a dedicated image-only file or fold them into your existing sitemap; Google accepts either.

The point of an image sitemap is discovery, not ranking. It surfaces images Google might not find on its own — images that are loaded with JavaScript, served dynamically, or referenced in ways the normal HTML crawl doesn’t expose. Each <url> can hold up to 1,000 <image:image> tags. Without the image namespace, those tags are simply ignored.

A few details that trip people up: Google deprecated four image tags in August 2022 (<image:caption>, <image:geo_location>, <image:title>, <image:license>) — you can leave them in place or remove them with no indexing effect either way. Image URLs can live on a different domain than the page, as long as both domains are verified in Search Console and the image host’s robots.txt allows crawling. And the file you point to should be in a format Google can actually index: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, or AVIF.

Related: Sitemap, XML sitemap, Video sitemap

Changelog