Are you having trouble creating and submitting XML sitemaps to Google and Bing? Sitemaps are crucial tools for ensuring your website is indexed correctly by search engines. While they may not be strictly necessary, they serve as a roadmap for search engines to crawl and index your web pages effectively.
If you’re facing challenges with crawling and indexing your essential website pages, XML sitemaps can significantly improve the situation. In this comprehensive tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of creating, submitting, and managing XML sitemaps using WP Pro.
Table of Contents
- What is an XML sitemap?
- Do you actually need a sitemap?
- Generating an XML sitemap
- How to submit a sitemap to Search Engines?
- Keeping your sitemap updated
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website that you want search engines to crawl. It includes details such as change frequency, location, priority, and last modified date for each page.
This file provides valuable information about your pages, videos, images, and other files, helping search engines like Google navigate your site more efficiently. Essentially, the XML sitemap guides search engines in crawling and prioritizing the most important pages on your website.
The XML format is the most commonly used for sitemaps, though you can also use HTML or RSS/Atom feeds. XML stands for Extensible Markup Language, a standard format for encoding data in a structured way.
Here’s a brief example of how an XML sitemap looks:
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii</loc>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zealand</loc>
<lastmod>2004-12-23</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
</url>
For most websites, you can access your sitemap by appending sitemap.xml to your URL. In our case, it’s https://wppro.au/sitemap_index.xml, automatically created by the RankMath SEO plugin.
Do you actually need a sitemap?
The simple answer is: not necessarily. Your website can be indexed and crawled by search engines even without an XML sitemap. If your site is small and has proper internal linking, pages may be easily discoverable without one. However, having a sitemap can speed up the crawling process and provide additional benefits.
The main purpose of an XML sitemap is to assist search engines like Google in finding and crawling the important pages of your website. This is particularly beneficial for smaller websites with fewer than 500 pages, where some pages may not be easily discoverable without a sitemap.
Additionally, sitemaps can include valuable information about each URL, which aids your SEO efforts:
- Page last update date
- Page change frequency
- Page priority or importance
So, while sitemaps are not an absolute requirement, they can enhance your site’s performance in various ways:
Improved Indexing and Crawling
Sitemaps ensure all pages, including those with dynamic content or that are isolated from the main site structure, are indexed.
Faster Updates
Sitemaps allow search engines to quickly locate newly added or updated pages, thus enhancing crawling and indexing efficiency.
Better Crawl Management
For larger websites, sitemaps guide search engines on which pages are most important, helping to prioritize crawling and manage crawl budget effectively.
Generating an XML sitemap
Creating an XML sitemap is straightforward. If you’re using WordPress with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath, these plugins typically generate your sitemap automatically unless you’ve disabled that feature. There are also dedicated sitemap plugins available for WordPress.
If you’re not using any of these plugins or if your site isn’t built on WordPress, you might need to create the sitemap manually. Here are a few methods:
Online Sitemap Generators
A quick search for online sitemap generators will yield tools like XML-sitemaps, which allow you to generate a sitemap by simply entering your website’s URL. After generating the file, you can download it and submit it to search engines. Keep in mind that not all tools are free; some may require payment to download the XML sitemap file or have limitations on the number of URLs for free users.
SEO Tools
If you have tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush, you can create sitemaps using these platforms as well.
Custom Creation
For those with technical skills or smaller websites, you can manually create a custom script for your sitemap. However, this is not advisable for larger websites, as it can be time-consuming.
Once you create the sitemap, you’ll need to upload the file to your website’s root directory, which can then be accessed at [your website domain]/sitemap_index.xml.
How to submit a sitemap to Search Engines?
Now that we’ve covered what XML sitemaps are and why they are important, let’s dive into how to submit your sitemap to Google.
How to submit XML sitemap to Google?
Follow these simple steps to submit your XML sitemap to Google:
Step 1: Go to Google Search Console and select your website property.
Step 2: Click on the “Sitemaps” option in the left menu.
Step 3: Enter your sitemap URL in the provided field and click the Submit button.
After submitting, check the status of your sitemap. Google Search Console will display whether it was successfully processed and if any errors were encountered. If your sitemap is indexed correctly, you’ll see a status of Success under the Submitted sitemaps section.
Submitting sitemaps with Search Console – Is it necessary?
While submitting a sitemap via Google Search Console isn’t strictly necessary, it can be beneficial in certain situations. Google outlines cases where submitting a sitemap might be helpful, summarized below:
For larger sites, ensuring every page is linked by at least one other page can be challenging, making it likely that Googlebot might miss some new pages. This is where sitemaps come into play.
If your site is new and has few internal or external links, Googlebot may struggle to discover your pages. Sitemaps can bridge this gap.
If your site features rich media content (videos, images) or is included in Google News, additional information from sitemaps can enhance search visibility.
How to submit a sitemap to Bing?
To submit a sitemap to Bing, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and select your website property.
Step 2: Click on the “Sitemaps” option in the left-hand menu.
Step 3: Click on Submit Sitemap located at the top right corner.
Step 4: Enter your sitemap URL in the field and click the Submit button.
Similar to Google, Bing provides a status column for your sitemap submissions.
Keeping your sitemap updated
It’s essential to update your sitemap at least every 1-2 months, or even more frequently for sites that undergo regular content updates. Remember to update your sitemap if you make any major changes to your website structure or content.
If you’re using SEO or sitemap management plugins, you can often configure them to automatically update your sitemap whenever you add new pages or make changes. Alternatively, you can use custom scripts to generate and submit updated sitemaps regularly.
Still finding it challenging to manage sitemap updates and ensure your website pages are indexed? At WP Pro, we offer WordPress website growth plans designed to assist you in managing your website and enhancing your SEO strategy.
