30-second summary:
- A sitemap is one of the technical sides of SEO.
- A sitemap doesn’t enhance your SEO traffic however helps search engines index your web pages quicker.
- It’s extremely easy to produce an XML sitemap and doesn’t require any coding knowledge.
- Once a sitemap is created, you require to submit it to Google.
- Through your Google Search Console dashboard, you can see detailed index coverage reports and repair any technical mistakes if present.
- Founder of WPMyWeb.com, Jyoti Ray guides you through the process of producing an XML sitemap utilizing different tools and information on how you can fix existing sitemap mistakes.
There are over hundreds of Google ranking factors you require to master as well as execute them in order to increase your search engine visibility when it comes to SEO. Believe me, it’s great deals of work– producing content concepts, keyword investigating, creating premium content, building backlinks, auditing your website, etc. And working on each of the strategies is lengthy and needs lots of effort. There are some SEO strategies that are simpler to carry out but have a big effect on SEO. Among them is– submitting an XML sitemap to Google.
Although a sitemap is among the parts of “technical SEO”, it doesn’t require any technical knowledge, and most significantly, it’s complimentary and much easier to create.
Even, in just 10-15 minutes, you can produce an XML sitemap and send it to Google.
So, in this short article, we will initially explain what is an XML sitemap, why do you need a sitemap, and after that show you how to develop an XML sitemap and send it to Google. Let’s begin.
What is an XML sitemap?
A sitemap is a list of a site’s URLs. It’s a roadmap of a site that tells Google what details is readily available and where to find it. A sitemap includes crucial information about each URL, such as– when a post or page was last upgraded, how frequently do you alter, and so on
. The best part of a sitemap is that you can define what media, posts, or pages files to be indexed by online search engine crawlers.
Sitemaps are specifically written for search engines, not for human beings. So, it would be difficult for us to comprehend if not seen before.
Here’s how an XML sitemap looks:
Source Why do you need a sitemap? Online search engine use crawlers to discover and index all
the info on the web. While crawling a page, they use both internal and external links to discover brand-new content. However, if a new website hasn’t connected from other recognized pages, spiders discover it challenging to discover brand-new pages
on a site, and as a result, the indexing procedure gets postponed. That’s where a sitemap comes. A sitemap does not just include a bunch of valuable links but likewise helps Search Engine crawlers to discover brand-new details quicker.
As soon as you send your XML sitemap file to Google, you can see that all brand-new posts/pages you are releasing are readily available someplace on Google search results (after a number of minutes). It’s because of the sitemap file.
When do you require to use a sitemap?
Not everybody needs a sitemap. Google has its own complex algorithm to schedule crawling.
Google officially specified when a web designer needs a sitemap:
- Your site is really big
- Your site is brand name brand-new and has few external links indicating it
- You don’t construct internal links
Nevertheless, most of the times, having a sitemap could be useful in a couple of methods.
Now I know the essentials of a sitemap, let’s see how to produce an XML sitemap and send it to Google.
How to produce an XML sitemap
Creating a sitemap is really easy. You can use an online tool to create an XML sitemap and for WordPress sites, there are plenty of plugins offered.
I will reveal both of them.
1. Developing a sitemap in WordPress
More than 35% of the overall websites are powered by WordPress.
If you run a WordPress site, you can produce a sitemap using a plugin.
There are a number of WordPress plugins readily available that enable you to develop an XML sitemap, such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math SEO, etc.
. Method 1, Create a sitemap using Yoast SEO
Yoast is one of the best SEO plugins for WordPress. Yoast plugin helps you to enhance your page titles, meta descriptions, SEO analysis, and so on
. It likewise has an alternative to develop an XML sitemap.
If you are not using the Yoast SEO plugin, download and install it from the WordPress plugin directory.
Follow the actions listed below
From your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins > > Add New and look for “Yoast SEO”.
Once activated, go to SEO > General > Features. Click on the Question icon to expose the sitemap URL. Method two– Creating a sitemap
utilizing Rank Math SEO You can produce a sitemap like the method you developed using the Yoast SEO plugin if you are using the Rankmath SEO plugin. But, I prefer utilizing the Rank Math
plugin because it provides advanced options that are missing out on in Yoast SEO >. Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New. Search for “Rank Math “and install it. Upon activation, go to Rank Math > sitemap Settings. From there, you can set how many
links you desire per sitemap page, omit URLs, images in
posts, and so on. At the top, you can see your sitemap URL which appears like:”https://www.website.com/sitemap_index.xml”< img loading ="lazy"class=" aligncenter size-full wp-image-142895"src ="https://www.searchenginewatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rank-Math-Sitemap.png"alt="Rank Math Sitemap "width="715"height="357" srcset= "https://www.searchenginewatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rank-Math-Sitemap.png 715w, https://www.searchenginewatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rank-Math-Sitemap-300x150.png 300w"sizes= "(max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px"> Now, you are prepared to send to Google Search Console. 2. Creating a sitemap without a CMS
If you are not using any CMS, you can still create a sitemap. For this case, Screaming Frog would be a terrific option.
Yelling Frog is a desktop-based program (available on Windows & Mac) that crawls your site. The software application comes both in free and premium versions. If your site has less than 500 URLs, you can start utilizing
the totally free version of Screaming Frog to generate a sitemap.
Follow the actions offered below As soon as downloaded and installed, open the software on your computer. At the top of the screen, enter your website URL
and click on Start. It will begin crawling your site and might take a couple of minutes to end up. As soon as the crawl is ended up, take a look at what pages are being crawled. You are good to go if the number is listed below 500. From the top of the menu section, click sitemap > XML sitemaps. You can likewise consist of or leave out any options that you
want in your sitemap file, such as Noindex pages, last modified date, Paginated URLs, PDFs, Images, and so on
. I advise keeping this default, however, you are free to make any modifications.
As soon as done, hit on the Export button and save the file on your computer system.
Your XML sitemap file is prepared to use.
3. Developing a sitemap in Wix
If you are utilizing Wix, then you do not need to by hand produce a sitemap.
Wix does it instantly.
You can see your sitemap file by going to “your-wix-site. com/sitemap. xml”.
In Wix, you would not have much control over your sitemap.
If you wish to leave out a page from the sitemap, simply go to the “SEO (Google)” settings tab under page settings and switch off “Show this page in search engine result”.
Note: Wix advises that you send your sitemap each time you
make any modifications. 4. Producing a sitemap in Squarespace Like Wix, Squarespace also produces a sitemap instantly. You can view your sitemap
by including”/ sitemap.xml”at the end of your site’s URL, which is”your-website. com/sitemap. xml”. You can’t manually edit your sitemap in
Squarespace, nevertheless, you can leave out pages from search results page. To perform this, go to Page setting and check” Hide this page from search engine
results”in the SEO tab.
5. Producing a sitemap in Shopify immediately generates an XML sitemap file for you. You can see your sitemap file by going to “your-website.
com/sitemap. xml”. The produced sitemap contains all the products, blogs, collections, and webpages.
The sitemap files immediately upgraded when made any changes. Now your sitemap file is ready for submission. Recommended read– How to enhance your Shopify website for
SEO How to submit an XML sitemap to Google
Now you have simply developed an XML sitemap file, it’s time for sending to Google.
For this, you will need to link your Google Search Console account with your site. Here’s the step by action treatment by Google.
As soon as linked, log in to your Google Search Console account and pick your site.
From the control panel, click the sitemaps.
You will see the alternative “Add a new sitemap”. Enter your sitemap URL in the blank field, and struck the Submit button.
That’s it. Now, relax and relax. Google will take care of the rest. Repairing your sitemap errors to improve SEO Normally, if your website includes one or more technical mistakes, it’s really hard to figure it out. In many cases, it’s not even detectable unless you utilize a paid site auditor tool.
But, there is good news for you.
If you have sent your sitemap to Google, you can see detailed index protection reports to inspect if there is any technical mistake present on your website.
Log in to your Google Search Console account, and click on Coverage.
Click on the Error, Valid with a caution, Valid, and Excluded tab to get the information.
From there, you can check pages
repair. As soon as done, you can request Google to mark it as repaired by clicking Validate Fix. Once you repair all the technical mistakes with the aid of your XML sitemap file, you can
see a significant improvement in your search traffic. Conclusion Producing an XML sitemap is very basic and doesn’t need any technical skills. You can produce a sitemap using SEO plugins in simply a couple of clicks if you are using WordPress. It’s also much easier if you are not using any CMS.
There is no evidence that a sitemap improves your website’s SEO, but it assists Google to discover and index your website’s material much faster. I also recommend you utilize a sitemap.
Submitting a sitemap to Google is just a tiny part of the complete SEO game.
Jyoti Ray is the Founder of WPMyWeb.com. He writes about blogging, WordPress tutorials, hosting, and affiliate marketing.