A sitemap is a structured file that helps search engines understand your website’s content and hierarchy, improving indexing and visibility. Like a roadmap, XML sitemaps help search engines discover and rank important pages, boosting your SEO. They are handy for large websites, new pages, or sites with complex navigation.
Through this guide, you will uncover the importance of XML sitemap features in SEO and how to utilize them.
What is a sitemap?
Sitemaps are files or pages that communicate organized information and structure about your website to search engines and visitors. Imagine a sitemap structured like a table of contents page in a book except explicitly made for search engines. Sitemaps help crawlers review and understand your website better. Additionally, they assist in indexing all the relevant pages.
Why do Sitemaps Matter for SEO?
All search engines rely heavily on sitemaps to crawl and index various website’s pages to locate them faster and easier. PSOt and site visibility in search results are also greatly improved. Through Google Sights, most crawlers tend to surf around websites in search of interconnected links and will find them with ease. Even though a sitemap is not always a crucial component of a web page, it can aid in effortless optimization for search engines, especially in the following cases:
New Sitemaps: For sites that don’t have too many backlinks from external sites, a sitemap guarantees search engines find the entire website and index its pages, improving overall website visibility.
Large Websites: Using XML sitemaps dramatically benefits those who own numerous web pages. E-commerce sites, for instance, benefit the most as they tend to have complex CMS systems.
How Do Sitemaps Affect SEO?
Sitemaps foster SEO optimization by facilitating the crawling and indexing processes from search engines onto your website’s pages. Submit it to Google Search Console and other search engines. Additionally, it is possible to create XML sitemaps for images hosted on the site. Focusing on XML sitemaps is relevant, but HTML sitemaps are also great for SEO. HTML sitemaps usually appear as links in the footer section of the website.
Creating Your Sitemap: Static vs. Dynamic
There are two main methods of generating the desired sitemap:
Static Sitemaps: This type of sitemap is for websites and can be created without using a web crawler through the Screaming Frog tool. However, if there are site changes, such as additions and deletions of pages or content, these sitemaps become outdated faster.
Dynamic Sitemaps: This type of sitemap is always current since it self-updates with every site change. You can create a dynamic sitemap by:
Having a developer create a custom script.
Using a dynamic sitemap generator tool.
For the content management systems (CMS), you can install a plugin like Yoast for WordPress.
A dynamic sitemap is usually recommended for most sites as it populates in real-time. You can create one using:
CMS Plugins – Like Yoast SEO for WordPress.
Online Sitemap Generators – Free tools that generate XML sitemaps.
Custom Code – Web Developers can create a sitemap script.
Understanding XML Sitemap Format
Here is what your sitemap should comprise to improve the chances of search engines reading it correctly:
XML version declaration: This section instructs what file it is, flagging for the search engines what to expect from the site.
UTF-8 Encoding: This ensures that all characters used in your sitemap are understood appropriately.
Every page delineated in your sitemap should have the following tags:
(Location) Tag: This is a prerequisite tag containing a full URL to the page that is 100% correct so that there are no issues down the line.
(Last Modified) Tag: Normally used as a tag, this element is strongly advisable. It shows the page release and last update, allowing the search engines to know the indexing priority of pages.
Your Sitemap Submission Via Google Search Console
Submitting your sitemap via Google Search Console is best for accurate and easy indexing of your pages. Here is how to do it:
If you don’t have a Google Search console, create an account for free and add your already existing website to the account.
On the left sidebar, locate the “Index” section and click on “Sitemaps” on the side.
Paste the sitemap URL into the “Add a new sitemap” box and click “Submit.”
Google may need a few days to a few weeks to process the submitted sitemap URL after submission. You can keep track of the progress in the Sitemaps report section, which indicates how many URLs Google has discovered and if the crawler has accessed the sitemap.
XML Sitemap Best Practices Checklist
To maximize the effectiveness of your XML sitemap, follow these best practices:
Automatically edit XML sitemap to ensure timely updates.
Decrease the file size of the sitemap by compressing files.
If there are several sitemaps, use a sitemap index file.
Add and first for each URL.
Help Google to locate your images by using image tags in current sitemaps.
Use video and Google News sitemaps if there is appropriate content.
In your robots.txt file, include links to sitemap URLs.
Publish sitemaps in the Google Search Console and the Bing Webmaster Tools.
Only include pages that are important for search engine optimization in the sitemap.
For a given URL, a single sitemap must contain it only once.
Proofread sitemap code for errors.
Based on site pages, cluster URLs into sitemaps with meaningful titles.
Within large, complex sitemap files, develop a plan to divide them for easier access.
Use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to evaluate indexing rates and general performance, making spotting problems easier.
An advanced XML sitemap is vital to boosting a website’s SEO metrics. This allows a search engine to crawl the various pages more efficiently, leading to better rankings in search results. Hire Exiliensoft Consulting Services, an expert, to help you create sitemaps as per the checklist provided in this guide. For more information, contact our team and book your consultation!
