At its simplest, a sitemap is just a list of URLs. It may sound basic, but sitemaps can play an important role in successful SEO.
To add pages to search engine results, search engines send out what are known as “bots” or “spiders.” These automated crawlers search the internet for pages, and anything they find may eventually be indexed, meaning it can appear in a search engine results page. But with millions of websites online, waiting for a search engine bot to discover and crawl your page on its own can sometimes take weeks.
That’s where a sitemap comes in. A sitemap acts as a heads-up, helping draw a search engine’s attention to your website.
Once your website is complete, you’ll need to create your sitemap, or ideally build it as you go. One simple option is to create a Notepad .txt file with the URL of each page on your site, placing each URL on a separate line, and then upload that file to your server. Alternatively, if you’re using self-hosted WordPress, you can install a plugin called “XML Google Sitemaps,” which automatically creates and updates your sitemap as your site grows.
The plugin will generate a URL, usually www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. If you use the .txt file method, you’ll upload the file and get the URL yourself. You should then submit your sitemap URL to the major search engines using a tool such as Google Webmaster Tools. Once submitted, the search engine will know to send a bot to crawl the pages you’ve listed, and it will usually do so within a matter of days. Sitemaps can make indexing much easier, which is why they’re an absolute must.
Speak Your Mind