Google XML SiteMaps – Everything You Wanted To Know!

Google XML SiteMaps are an important part of ensuring any website of more than a couple of pages is well listed in the Search Engines. But, you never see one when browsing, so sit back and read this and we'll do our best to explain them and everything you wanted to know! In this post, we are going to cover what sitemaps are and why they matter, the difference between HTML and XML sitemaps, how to create a sitemap, and how to submit a sitemap to Google.

What Are XML Sitemaps

Search engines like to be helped when they are indexing and populating their databases with your website’s information, and an XML sitemap (often called a Google XML Sitemap), when set up correctly, does just that. Sitemaps provide search engines with a list of the pages on a website, giving them a guide to its structure. They are called XML site maps because they always must be given the file extension .xml, and are formatted in a special way which Search engines can read really quickly.  Search engines use XML sitemap data to learn about a website's structure and to improve their crawler schedule, which in turn improves the quality and frequency of your indexing. When you submit an XML sitemap, you are helping web crawlers do a better job.

Don't get confused with the sitemaps (HTML sitemaps) you see on some websites which are pages that list the pages of a website for quick reference by site visitors. Although the content is similar (i.e. a list of page URLs) these are meant for human use, whereas XML sitemaps (sitemaps org schemas sitemap) are strictly for Search Engine bots.

An example of a very popular plugin for WordPress which can create your XML sitemap for you with no effort on your part is the Yoast plugin. Yoast SEO is an all-in-one SEO plugin, and indeed it's the most popular option currently available. As such, it includes the ability to generate an XML sitemap in just a few clicks:
to generate your own sitemap:

1. Download and install the plugin.
2. Navigate to the WordPress dashboard, and
3. Click SEO General from the left-hand menu.
4. From here, select the features tab and scroll to XML Sitemaps.
5. Toggle the bar to on and click “Save Changes”.
6. To see your new sitemap (http www www sitemaps org schemas etc.), click the question mark next to “XML sitemap”, then click the dedicated link.

Google sitemaps are XML files that list the URLs available on a site. The aim is to help site owners notify search engines about the urls on a website that are available for indexing. Webmasters can include information about each URL, such as when it was last updated and its importance in the context of the site. A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in a hierarchical fashion. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages on the site.

Using Your XML Sitemap to Declare Which URLS You Want Indexed

An XML sitemap is an extremely useful tool in an SEO's arsenal. It allows you to unambiguously declare exactly which URLs you wish to be indexed on a website. And this is also the only URLs an XML sitemap should contain – only the URLs you actually want to be indexed. As a minimum, these must be URLs that return a 200 status code, and are indexable. As such, the XML sitemap hints serve to highlight instances where this is not the case.

Here’s the easiest way to explain the difference between the two formats. Basically, XML sitemaps are designed for use by search engines while HTML sitemaps are designed for use by humans. Should you have both available? Yes! Matt Cutts from Google says, “Once you make an HTML sitemap, making an XML version is extremely easy”. So our advice is to do both, if possible.

To complete this action you must use Google search console, a free tool that any SEO specialist should know and master. Thanks to search console, you can send your XML sitemap location to Google easily and we advise you to do just that, and by doing that Goggle is more likely to index your new website quickly.

How To Install a Sitemap on Your Joomla Website

There is a way to create a sitemap for Joomla websites by following the steps which follow:

1. You can download the following xmap sitemap xml component for Joomla at ://joomla. Vargas. Co. Cr/downloads/cat_view/1-xmap ( Joomla version 1. 5 )
2. Log in to the administration end of your Joomla website. The URL for this login can cause a little confusion for novice users of Joomla but it will always be the following URL :
   http://www. Yourwebsitename. Com/administrator/index. Php
   the /administrator/index. Php ending will always be the extension to your URL when you need to log in.
3. In your Joomla administration panel menu at the top, you will see extensions. Scroll down to install/uninstall and click on it. You will see upload package file and a browse button. By clicking on the browse button you will be able to locate the xmap file, which you downloaded from this website, on your own computer.

When you downloaded the xmap file from this website it was in a zipped file. The xmap file on your computer must still be in the zipped file for your upload to be successful. That's the way Joomla works and for novice users of Joomla, this point can be hard to grasp.

Shopify XML Sitemaps and Why Should You Have One?

One of the benefits or limitations of Shopify (depending on your perspective!) is that it automatically creates XML sitemaps split by page type. However, for some more advanced SEO use cases, this can be limiting since these sitemaps cannot be manually altered and new sitemaps cannot easily be created on the cms (and subsequently uploaded to search console).

An HTML XML sitemap is a very important addition of your website/blog or eCommerce Store. If you go and check any popular website (just take any and visit) you will notice that nearly all have this page (HTML sitemap) and if you click on it then you will notice something like this. So let’s see what exactly is this file and why you should have one for your website.

You want to help those search engines out in any way you can and take control where you can. The assistance includes finding your content and moving it up in the crawl queue. While an XML sitemap is just a laundry list of links, HTML links are actually the way search crawlers prefer to discover the web. The HTML sitemap helps call attention to that content by putting the spotlight on your website’s most important pages. You can also submit the text version of your sitemap to Google.

Are XML Sitemaps Really Necessary for Sites With an HML Sitemap?

How necessary are Google sitemaps? Do I need to submit an XML sitemap to google if my site already has an HTML sitemap?

An HTML sitemap is a single web page that is essentially a list of links to all of your site's web pages (see sitemaps org www sitemaps). It provides a means by which a search engine spider can easily find and crawl all of your site's pages. Once your site has an HTML sitemap the search engines will be able to find all your pages.

However, it is strongly recommended that you do also place an XML sitemap at the root directory of your website: http://yourwebsite. Com/sitemap. xml but in some situations, you may want to produce different sitemaps for different paths on your site (e. g. security permission issues).

XML sitemaps ( sain http www sitemaps org) should be no larger than 10mb (10,485,760 bytes) and can contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs. This means that if your site contains more than 50,000 URLs or your sitemap is bigger than 10mb, you must create multiple sitemap files and use a sitemap index file.

SEO is a broad term for a long list of best practices and technical recommendations that can improve your site’s rankings in search engines. Creating a org Schemas Sitemap 0 sitemap is one of many technical SEO best practices that can help boost your organic traffic.

What Websites Need an XML Sitemap?

All websites more than about two or three pages will do better to have an XML sitemap. There are a number of reasons for this. For example, when analyzing indexing problems on websites, XML sitemaps can be very useful. However, if all URLs on a website are simply heaped together in XML sitemaps regardless of the purpose of each URL, then troubleshooting SEO issues becomes more challenging. A great way to make XML sitemaps more useful and helpful is to separate them out by content type so that there are different XML sitemap files for different types of pages. For example, on an eCommerce site, you should have different XML sitemap files for your static content pages (about us, terms and conditions, etc), your category and subcategory pages (hub pages), and your product pages.

Reviewing and Checking Your XML Sitemap

You’ll want to find your XML sitemap for your website to check that you have one, check that it is valid, and then submit the URL to search engines. The best practice is to put the sitemap file in the root folder of the domain. (E. G. Https://writemaps. Com/sitemap. xml) , but it can be kept anywhere, even on another domain, as you long as you tell the search engines where it resides. Having a sitemap isn’t compulsory, but it does help search engines find and index new websites or updated webpages in a faster way.

Those who are using the many kinds of cms other than WordPress can create a free google XML sitemap with an online XML sitemap generator that is very helpful for your website. All of the blogger and webmaster's know how important is the sitemap for your website. In WordPress and some common cms platforms you can create is with a plug-in or other tools but for other HTML, PHP, and script-based websites you have to create it manually or automatically with some tools like the “free XML sitemap generator”. You can create a sitemap up to 5000 URLs from this free tool.

Which pages should be in your XML sitemap?

When used effectively, sitemaps can play an active role in your SEO strategy, especially for enterprise websites. Sitemaps can increase the visibility of the pages that you want search engines to find and crawl. This enables more of your pages to get indexed, enter an organic search, and generate traffic. But some website owners have some of the largest websites in the world. Compiling “strategic” XML sitemaps of a targeted set of URLs, at that scale, can be time-consuming and difficult. Botify’s XML sitemap generator removes the challenges and complexities of creating optimized sitemaps for enterprise websites, according to its creators. They say that XML Sitemap creation for even these massive sites is now reduced to the click of one button.

If you care about where your web project is placed in the search engine result pages (SERPs), you will know exactly how many different factors influence the fight for the top places. For example, the list of factors that affect google’s ranking includes over 200 criteria, some of which have been officially confirmed by the company, but some have only been assumed by experts. It’s no secret that search engine optimization has been the standard for a long while for every webmaster wanting their website to be visible and accessible. While factors such as relevant keywords, high-quality content, or a high level of mobility are well-known factors, the value of a good XML sitemap is often underestimated.

The Importance of Google Finding Your Sitemap

A site’s overall quality is an essential factor in SERP rankings. Therefore, high-quality pages should be prioritized in a store’s site map. When a sitemap points Google bots to swaths of low-value pages, engines tend to take this as indicative of the overall quality of a site and establishes that visitors are likely to find the destination valueless. This is even true of essential pages to a site such as a login or privacy policy pages. To receive the most benefit from submitting a sitemap to google, try to guide spiders to the site’s most important pages such as the homepage, vital landing pages, popular product category pages, and so on.

The primary function of a sitemap is to help search engines find relevant pages on your website so that they can be crawled and indexed. An XML sitemap (sitemaps org schemas) helps search engines understand how your site is structured and what it pertains to. In doing so, it can also contribute to how high your website can rank on google based on its found relevance. Ultimately, XML sitemaps can serve as a reference point for your SEO efforts.

Most professional web designers have embraced XML as a way to let google find content faster. With XML, you can create a sitemap (www sitemaps org) that Google can then use to crawl through your website faster. It’ll find your content quicker than websites that don’t have an XML sitemap, which will result in a higher ranking. Just make sure your robots.txt (robots txt file defined by www w3 org) requirement matches your XML document. If it doesn’t match, Google will take more time to find your content, and may rank you lower since it may not fully trust your website.

Yoast SEO Plugin and Other XML sitemaps

Put simply, an XML sitemap (http www sitemaps) is a directory or guide containing the most important pages of a website. They’re intended to help crawlers understand your website and how it’s structured. A sitemap is an XML (extensible markup language) file that’s easily digested by search engines.

It looks something like this:

•  just a single URL and
• showcases all available tags according to sitemaps. Org,
• but the only required tag is the location—the URL of the page.

Yoast, a popular plugin SEO tool for WordPress websites, generates sitemaps that look like this.

Whenever changes occur on your site or in the way you want it to be indexed. XML sitemaps are files containing the most important – or all – URLs of your site, created with search engines in mind. Using and submitting a XML sitemap to search engines is the best SEO practice, which can help the process of a site getting indexed. Most WordPress users leave XML sitemap generation and submission to plugins, such as Yoast SEO or “All in one SEO”.

Many people are using another WordPress plugin for this. Simply go to your plugins installer and search for “Google XML sitemaps” – it’s the one with the 1 million+ active installations. There are many other plugins of course and you can choose anyone you fancy but for the sake of this article, we have used the most common one and personally, it’s the one I trust as I’ve been using it for more than 4 years. If you have an SEO plugin like “Google XML sitemaps”, Yoast or “All-in-one SEO”, you can on almost all occasions simply rely on them to keep your XML Sitemap up to date.

Conclusion

An XML sitemap (sitemap index xml) is like a roadmap for search engines of the URLs within your website. Regularly checking them is vital to prevent incorrect URLs from being crawled and potentially indexed and important URLs from being missed.

The sitemaps are your index (or your “Table of Contents”) for search engines to know what pages are on your website so they can possibly index them into their search engines.