diff --git a/commands/hugo.go b/commands/hugo.go
index cced30143..235f95f75 100644
--- a/commands/hugo.go
+++ b/commands/hugo.go
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ func InitializeConfig() {
 	viper.SetDefault("CanonifyUrls", false)
 	viper.SetDefault("Indexes", map[string]string{"tag": "tags", "category": "categories"})
 	viper.SetDefault("Permalinks", make(hugolib.PermalinkOverrides, 0))
+	viper.SetDefault("Sitemap", hugolib.Sitemap{"", -1})
 
 	if hugoCmdV.PersistentFlags().Lookup("build-drafts").Changed {
 		viper.Set("BuildDrafts", Draft)
diff --git a/hugolib/page.go b/hugolib/page.go
index 6417a63fa..7305e0ecd 100644
--- a/hugolib/page.go
+++ b/hugolib/page.go
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func renderBytes(content []byte, pagefmt string) []byte {
 func newPage(filename string) *Page {
 	page := Page{contentType: "",
 		File:   File{FileName: filename, Extension: "html"},
-		Node:   Node{Keywords: []string{}},
+		Node:   Node{Keywords: []string{}, Sitemap: Sitemap{Priority: -1}},
 		Params: make(map[string]interface{})}
 
 	jww.DEBUG.Println("Reading from", page.File.FileName)
@@ -342,6 +342,8 @@ func (page *Page) update(f interface{}) error {
 			}
 		case "status":
 			page.Status = cast.ToString(v)
+		case "sitemap":
+			page.Sitemap = parseSitemap(cast.ToStringMap(v))
 		default:
 			// If not one of the explicit values, store in Params
 			switch vv := v.(type) {
diff --git a/hugolib/site.go b/hugolib/site.go
index f20cabc6f..839c87e7e 100644
--- a/hugolib/site.go
+++ b/hugolib/site.go
@@ -749,10 +749,33 @@ func (s *Site) RenderSitemap() error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	sitemapDefault := parseSitemap(viper.GetStringMap("Sitemap"))
+
 	optChanged := false
 
 	n := s.NewNode()
-	n.Data["Pages"] = s.Pages
+
+	// Prepend homepage to the list of pages
+	pages := make(Pages, 0)
+
+	page := &Page{}
+	page.Site = s.Info
+	page.Url = "/"
+
+	pages = append(pages, page)
+	pages = append(pages, s.Pages...)
+
+	n.Data["Pages"] = pages
+
+	for _, page := range pages {
+		if page.Sitemap.ChangeFreq == "" {
+			page.Sitemap.ChangeFreq = sitemapDefault.ChangeFreq
+		}
+
+		if page.Sitemap.Priority == -1 {
+			page.Sitemap.Priority = sitemapDefault.Priority
+		}
+	}
 
 	// Force `UglyUrls` option to force `sitemap.xml` file name
 	switch s.Target.(type) {
diff --git a/hugolib/sitemap.go b/hugolib/sitemap.go
index 9510555aa..a8e38fe18 100644
--- a/hugolib/sitemap.go
+++ b/hugolib/sitemap.go
@@ -1,18 +1,28 @@
 package hugolib
 
-import jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
+import (
+	"github.com/spf13/cast"
+	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
+)
 
 type Sitemap struct {
 	ChangeFreq string
-	Priority   float32
+	Priority   float64
 }
 
-func (s Sitemap) Validate() {
-	if s.Priority < 0 {
-		jww.WARN.Printf("Sitemap priority should be greater than 0, found: %f", s.Priority)
-		s.Priority = 0
-	} else if s.Priority > 1 {
-		jww.WARN.Printf("Sitemap priority should be lesser than 1, found: %f", s.Priority)
-		s.Priority = 1
+func parseSitemap(input map[string]interface{}) Sitemap {
+	sitemap := Sitemap{Priority: -1}
+
+	for key, value := range input {
+		switch key {
+		case "changefreq":
+			sitemap.ChangeFreq = cast.ToString(value)
+		case "priority":
+			sitemap.Priority = cast.ToFloat64(value)
+		default:
+			jww.WARN.Printf("Unknown Sitemap field: %s\n", key)
+		}
 	}
+
+	return sitemap
 }
diff --git a/hugolib/template_embedded.go b/hugolib/template_embedded.go
index 29d7ce150..15c8cf545 100644
--- a/hugolib/template_embedded.go
+++ b/hugolib/template_embedded.go
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ func (t *GoHtmlTemplate) EmbedTemplates() {
   <url>
     <loc>{{ .Permalink }}</loc>
     <lastmod>{{ safeHtml ( .Date.Format "2006-01-02T15:04:05-07:00" ) }}</lastmod>{{ with .Sitemap.ChangeFreq }}
-    <changefreq>{{ . }}</changefreq>{{ end }}{{ with .Sitemap.Priority }}
-    <priority>{{ . }}</priority>{{ end }}
+    <changefreq>{{ . }}</changefreq>{{ end }}{{ if ge .Sitemap.Priority 0.0 }}
+    <priority>{{ .Sitemap.Priority }}</priority>{{ end }}
   </url>
   {{ end }}
 </urlset>`)