Creating a WordPress sitemap is one of the many ways to . By using a WordPress sitemap, website visitors and search engine bots can better see the structure of a site. WordPress sitemaps create a better user experience for visitors and provide accurate information for search engines to crawl.
This article will provide you with more details on the benefits of generating sitemaps for WordPress websites. We will also explain the differences between an XML and HTML sitemap and how they help optimize a site.
Additionally, you will learn how to generate both sitemaps for your WordPress site and submit a sitemap to both Google and Bing.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
What is a WordPress sitemap and why do you need it?
A WordPress sitemap is a list of all the public URLs of a WordPress website. Sitemaps help visitors and search engines navigate all the URLs on a site faster and easier. They can also show the relationship between the different pages and the importance of each of them. Read our guide if you want to know more about it in general.
A WordPress sitemap helps website owners in the following ways:
- Notification to search engines– Alerts search engine crawlers and shows visitors when there are new posts on a website. WordPress sitemaps also tell search engines about the pages of a site that they haven’t indexed before.
- easy navigation: Shows the structure and hierarchy of web pages by providing a complete list of custom URLs.
- – Helps optimize a website by notifying search engines that the website is free of duplicate content. Sitemaps also make a website more user-friendly, which improves its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Differences between a WordPress XML and HTML sitemap
There are two different types of WordPress sitemaps: a XML sitemap Y HTML sitemap. Each type plays an important role in optimizing a web page in its different ways.
When you submit a WordPress sitemap to search engines, you use an Extensible Markup Language (XML) sitemap. With this language, the search engine robots will find the content and information more easily. XML sitemaps also provide additional metadata and context for each URL.
For their part, HTML sitemaps provide links that represent all the web pages in . This functionality presents all the public pages of a site in a more user-friendly way, making navigation easier.
The main difference between sitemaps is that an XML sitemap is located at a separate URL and is focused on search engines. Meanwhile, an HTML sitemap can be included in web pages to site visitors.
We recommend having both WordPress sitemaps to ensure an optimal user experience, which will increase your search engine rankings as a result.
How to generate a WordPress XML sitemap manually?
Generating a WordPress XML sitemap manually will help specify the exact information that search engine crawlers will get. However, it will take more time to create a WordPress sitemap manually, especially for websites with more than 10 URLs.
To manually create WordPress sitemaps, open a text editor, such as Notepad for Windows or Nano for Linux and macOS users. Please note that the file must be in XML format. In it, include the URL of your website and all the necessary information that search engines need to know.
This is an example of an XML sitemap:
In this sitemap, there are required and optional tags. Here is an explanation of the required tags:
: Refers to the current standard protocol. Keep the example URL for your XML sitemap file. : parent tag for the URL. All other tags are included within this tag. : is the URL of the website. You must start with the protocol, such as HTTP, and end with a trailing slash if your web server uses it. The value of this tag must be less than 2,048 characters.
Also, some of the optional tags to be aware of are:
: Shows the last modified time of the website. Use the YYYY-MM-DD format for this tag. : Reveals how often the website makes changes. Valid values are: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. : Lets search engines know which URLs are most important to crawlers. Valid values are from 0.0 to 1.0, with the default value being 0.5.
Once you have created an XML sitemap file, upload it to your WordPress root folder. Next, access the sitemap URL to check the WordPress sitemap. Typically, the URL follows this format:
After finding the sitemap URL, validate it with the . Invalid sitemap files can cause problems for WordPress websites. Therefore, it is essential to first check with a validator before submitting XML sitemaps to search engines.
To use the sitemap validator, enter the sitemap URL into the validator and click the button VALIDATE SITEMAP.
If the WordPress sitemap is valid, a banner will be displayed announcing “no problems detected”.
However, if the WordPress sitemap is invalid, it will display a warning message, stating “Problem detected”.
How to generate a WordPress XML sitemap with a plugin?
To automatically create a sitemap in WordPress, use the sitemap plugins. It is a faster and more reliable way to generate a WordPress sitemap.
By , users will receive additional features and functionality to help optimize your website. The plugins also help update WordPress sitemaps when any changes are made automatically.
Below you will find help on how to generate a WordPress XML sitemap with two of the best WordPress plugins for this task.
Generate a WordPress sitemap with
The Yoast plugin is one of those for WordPress. This SEO plugin takes care of all the technical aspects of optimizing WordPress content, including creating XML sitemaps.
Follow these steps to create your WordPress sitemap:
- go to control Panel from wordpress -> Plugins -> Add New and search for the Yoast SEO plugin. click on Install Now Y active the free version of the plugin.
- go to the menu Yoast SEO on the dashboard and select General. Then he goes into the tab Characteristic to see the settings.
- In the features tab, select the button Activated under XML sitemap and click the button Save Changes.
- To check the XML sitemap link, click the question mark icon and select the option See the XML sitemap.
- Yoast SEO will redirect you to the XML sitemap URL. There you will see more information about each URL on your site.
In addition, Yoast SEO has the configuration of webmaster tools, which allows you to connect a WordPress website with different search engines right away. This will make it easier for you to submit and report updates to the various search engines.
The Google XML Sitemaps plugin is ideal for those who prefer advanced sitemap settings and the option to submit one to search engines right away.
Another remarkable feature of the XML sitemap is the automatic notifications to the main search engines when new content is published. Follow the steps below to use the plugin:
- Install the XML Sitemaps plugin from the WordPress plugin directory.
- Open the settings page by going to Settings -> XML Sitemap. Since the plugin automatically generates an XML sitemap for a WordPress site, you will see the sitemap URL there.
- Click on the URL to see the XML sitemap index.
To notify search engines, go to Setting -> XML sitemap and find the section Basic options. Check the first two boxes to notify both Google and Bing and click the button upgrade options at the bottom of the page.
How to Submit a WordPress XML Sitemap to Search Engines?
After generating a WordPress sitemap, submit it to search engines like Google and Bing for indexing. Keep in mind that while search engines will still crawl websites without manual submission, submitting WordPress XML sitemaps to search engines will still provide additional benefits:
- SEO– Sitemaps notify search engines when there are changes or new content, which helps your page stay current in search engine results.
- Precision: With the help of a WordPress sitemap, a search engine will only index the most accurate and relevant information on a site.
- Free: Generating a WordPress sitemap is free of charge, whatever the method.
- organic traffic: generate more visits by positioning yourself better in the SERPs.
Important! Before submitting a WordPress site to search engines, you need an XML sitemap URL.
Submit an XML Sitemap to Google
The submission of a WordPress sitemap to Google and the notoriety of a website. Website owners can do this using .
Sign in to your Google account and follow these steps:
- Select the type of property to get started. To get information about all URLs in the domain, select the option Domain. Enter your domain name and click the button CONTINUE.
- Verify the domain by adding the TXT record from Google Search Console to your domain name system (DNS) server. If you have a web hosting plan with , go to hPanel -> DNS zone editor and add the record in the box Manage DNS records.
- Go back to your Google Search Console account and select sitemap in the left sidebar menu. There, insert the URL of your sitemap in the section Add a new sitemap and click SEND to finish the process.
To check the status, go to Sitemaps -> Submitted Sitemaps. Google Search Console will share the status and give information about the optimization of your site using and resources.
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