Abu Zar Mishwani
Are you struggling to get your website’s pages indexed by search engines?
Are you tired of waiting for search engines like Google and Bing to discover your new content?
If you’re nodding your head, then you’re not alone. Many website owners face the same issue. But there’s a solution that can help you get your pages indexed faster and more efficiently. It’s called an XML sitemap.
XML Sitemaps are essential for any website, as they help search engines discover and index your content more effectively.
In this article, we’ll explore what an XML Sitemap is and how you can use it to help boost your website’s visibility.
What is XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on a website in a structured format. It’s like a map that helps search engines like Google and Bing find and index all of the content on a site.
For example, you own a website that sells garments. Your website has hundreds of pages, including product pages, category pages, and blog posts.
Without an XML sitemap, search engines might be unable to find all of these pages, which could hurt your search engine rankings and make it harder for customers to find your site.
Using an XML sitemap, you can ensure that search engines can find and index all of your pages, which can help improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
Think of it like a restaurant menu. Just like how a menu lists all of the dishes a restaurant offers, an XML sitemap lists all of the pages on a website. Without a menu, it would be hard for a customer to find what they want to order, and without an XML sitemap, it would be hard for search engines to find all the pages on a website.
How Does an XML Sitemap Look Like?
An XML sitemap is a file written in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format that lists all the pages on a website.
It can be viewed in a text editor or a web browser, but it’s not designed to be read by humans. Instead, it’s meant to be read by search engine bots that crawl websites to gather information about their content.
An XML sitemap typically includes the following information for each page:
- URL: The web address (URL) of the page.
- Last modified: The date and time the page was last updated.
- Change frequency: How often will the page change (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
- Priority: The relative importance of the page compared to other pages on the website.
Below is an example of what an XML sitemap might look like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2023-02-28</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2023-02-26</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/products</loc>
<lastmod>2023-03-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>daily</changefreq>
<priority>0.6</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/contact</loc>
<lastmod>2023-02-25</lastmod>
<changefreq>yearly</changefreq>
<priority>0.4</priority>
</url>
</urlset>
As you can see, each page on the website is listed as an <url> element, with sub-elements for the URL, last modified date, change frequency, and priority. This information helps search engines crawl the website more efficiently and understand the relative importance of each page.
The structure of an XML sitemap is pretty simple, but its information can be beneficial for search engines and website owners.
An Example Of XML Sitemap
The Yoast SEO is a popular plugin for WordPress websites that helps with SEO. One of the features of the Yoast plugin is the ability to generate XML sitemaps for your website automatically.
When you install and activate the Yoast plugin, it automatically generates a sitemap index file, usually located at /sitemap_index.xml. It serves as a directory of your website’s individual XML sitemaps.
Each sitemap in the index can contain up to 50,000 URLs, so if your website has more than 50,000 URLs, multiple sitemaps will be created automatically.
The sitemap index file for our website techabu.co https://techabu.co/sitemap_index.xml looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://techabu.co/post-sitemap.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2023-03-02T15:50:57+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://techabu.co/page-sitemap.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2023-03-02T15:50:57+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://techabu.co/category-sitemap.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2023-03-02T15:50:57+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>
This sitemap index file lists three individual XML sitemaps for different types of content on the website: posts, pages, and categories.
Each <sitemap> element contains an <loc> element that specifies the URL of the individual sitemap and an <lastmod> element that specifies the date and time the sitemap was last modified.
The structure and contents of each sitemap may vary depending on the type of content being included.
For example, the sitemap for posts https://techabu.co/post-sitemap.xml will contain URLs for all the blog posts on the website, along with additional information like the last modified date, change frequency, and priority.
This information helps search engines like Google understand the website’s structure and which pages are most important.
Which Sites Require an XML Sitemap?
Google’s official documentation suggests that XML sitemaps can be particularly helpful for websites with large amounts of content, such as those with large archives or many pages.
Additionally, sitemaps can benefit newer websites that have not yet been linked to from many external sources. Websites with rich media content, such as videos or images, may also benefit from using sitemaps.
While Google’s algorithms are designed to crawl and index websites automatically, some websites may not be structured in a way that makes all their content easily discoverable.
This is particularly true for larger websites with complex page hierarchies or non-standard navigation systems.
By providing a comprehensive sitemap, website owners can ensure that all of their content is easily accessible to search engines, regardless of how it is structured or linked internally.
It is worth noting that while sitemaps can be helpful for improving search engine visibility, they are not a magic solution for website optimization.
Proper internal linking, logical website structure, and high-quality content are still key factors for achieving good search engine rankings.
However, when used in conjunction with these other optimization techniques, XML sitemaps can be an effective tool for ensuring that all of a website’s content is easily discovered and indexed by search engines.
How Will Google or Bing Find Your Sitemap?
Google and Bing, two of the most popular search engines, use different methods to find and crawl sitemaps on a website.
Google uses a tool called Google Search Console to help website owners submit sitemaps and manage their website’s visibility in search results.
To submit a sitemap to Google, website owners must first verify their website ownership through Google Search Console.
Once verified, website owners can navigate to the console’s Sitemaps section and enter their sitemap URL. Google will then crawl the sitemap and use the information provided to index the website’s pages and content.
Bing, on the other hand, uses a different approach. While it does offer a similar service called Bing Webmaster Tools, it also allows website owners to specify the location of their sitemap in the robots.txt file.
This text file is located at the root of a website’s domain and contains instructions for search engine crawlers on which pages to crawl and index.
By adding a line of code to the robots.txt file that specifies the sitemap’s location, website owners can direct Bing to the sitemap and improve their website’s visibility in Bing search results.
In addition to these methods, search engines may discover sitemaps through other means, such as following website links or crawling pages referencing the sitemap.
However, submitting a sitemap directly to the search engine through Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools is generally the most reliable and efficient method for ensuring that the sitemap is discovered and used to index the website’s content.
How To Generate XML Sitemap For Your Website?
If you’re not using WordPress or don’t want to use a plugin to generate an XML sitemap for your website, several online generators can help you generate one.
These generators typically work by crawling your website and analyzing its structure and content to create a comprehensive list of all the pages and URLs that should be included in the sitemap.
Some popular online sitemap generators include:
- XML Sitemaps Generator: This free online tool allows you to quickly generate a sitemap for your website by simply entering your website’s URL. The tool will then crawl your website and create a sitemap that can be downloaded in XML.
- Screaming Frog: This is a more advanced tool that can be used to analyze and optimize a website for search engines. In addition to generating a sitemap, it can also be used to perform technical SEO audits and analyze website content.
If you’re using WordPress, several plugins can help you generate and manage your XML sitemap. One of the most popular plugins is Yoast SEO, which provides a range of SEO optimization features, including generating a sitemap.
To generate a sitemap using Yoast SEO, simply install and activate the plugin on your WordPress website.
Then, navigate to the SEO > Settings > Site Features tab and scroll down until you find the APIs section where Sitemap Feature is Available in the WordPress dashboard and ensure the XML sitemaps feature is enabled.
Once enabled, Yoast SEO will automatically generate a sitemap for your website and keep it up to date as new content is added or removed.