diff --git a/xmlsitemap.generate.inc b/xmlsitemap.generate.inc
index 57c3bc1..1d1459d 100644
--- a/xmlsitemap.generate.inc
+++ b/xmlsitemap.generate.inc
@@ -232,7 +232,9 @@ function xmlsitemap_generate_chunk(stdClass $sitemap, XMLSitemapWriter $writer,
     // @todo Should this be moved to XMLSitemapWritier::writeSitemapElement()?
     drupal_alter('xmlsitemap_element', $element, $link, $sitemap);
 
-    $writer->writeSitemapElement('url', $element);
+    if (!empty($element)) {
+      $writer->writeSitemapElement('url', $element);
+    }
   }
 
   return $link_count;