What is an XML sitemap?
In simple terms, it is a list of URL's of websites.
This is why it is called a site map, since it shows a map of the structure of the website and what it includes.
("XML" means "Extensible Markup Language", a way to display information on websites.
That's an XML sitemap, but why should you have one? What is the OBJECTIVE?
What is the purpose of an XML Site Map?
Search engines use crawlers to organize and index information on a website.
These trackers can read any type of information. But an XML sitemap makes it easyfor the crawler to see what's on your website and index it.
Once you do, your website will be much more likely to improve your rankings quickly.
An XML sitemap works basically as a table of contents on your website, allowing the crawler to access essential elements and index your website appropriately.
However, a well-structured site map can do much more.
Site maps can tell search engines when a page has been updated, the frequency of updates to the page, the relative importance of the pages within a website, and how to find and index content that could be in a site. The deepest level of the structure of the website.
This is how the information looks in a site map:
- Where the page is located on the website (its URL): <loc> http://www.example.com/mypage </ loc>
- The last time a page was modified: <lastmod> 2013-10-10 </ lastmod>
- The frequency with which a page is modified <changefreq> monthly </ changefreq>
- What priority does the page have in relation to the other pages on the website: <priority> 1 </ priority>
These functions are important, especially considering the amount of syndicated content that currently exists.
If you're not using a sitemap, your website might appear to have duplicate content, which is not good for SEO.
However, the most important thing is that a site map is a quick way to be indexed by Google.
As I said at the beginning of the article, I like quick and easy wins. With a sitemap, you can tell Google, "Look, this is my website, and here are the pages I want you to index."
In a few minutes, Google will respond to your request, crawl your site, and index your content.
Consider these benefits of an XML sitemap.
- The XML Site Map tells Google to crawl and index your website.
- The XML Site Map tells Google what kind of information is on your website.
- The XML Site Map tells Google when your content was updated (which could result in more favorable or "fresh" rankings).
- The XML Site Map tells Google how often your content is updated.
- The XML Site Map tells Google how important your content is.
- The XML Site Map helps your website get immediate indexing for dynamically generated pages.
- The XML sitemap helps you overcome the limitations of a website with a weak internal link.
- The XML Site Map helps you overcome the challenge of not having a strong profile of external links.
- The XML Site Map helps extremely large websites get better and more organized indexing.
- The XML Site Map helps Google to crawl your website more effectively.
- The XML Site Map shows Google all the pages on your website, even if they are very deep within the structure and perhaps could not be tracked quickly in another way.
If you are ready to start creating your own XML sitemap, we will follow a three-step process:
You have to do three things:
- Create your XML sitemap.
- Add your XML sitemap to your website.
- Send your XML sitemap to Google.
You can follow the guide for creating an XML sitemap from Google here:
