How To Create XML Sitemap?
Creating XML Sitemap and HTML Sitemap can be a tough and tricky job for those who do not have enough knowledge about XML (Extensible Markup Language).
But wait!
What if I told you that you can do that in a much better way without having a prior XML knowledge and in just two clicks.
Yes you read it right.
There are tons of tools available on the internet that you can use to generate XML Sitemap for free. Our Advance XML Sitemap Generator Tools one of them.
What Is A Sitemap?
A typical Sitemap is a file that hold all the URLs/Pages of website to help Search Engine Crawlers to understand the structure of a website. Search Engine bots follow the sitemap to understand and index the web pages in a better and easy way.
Types Of Sitemaps
- XML Sitemaps
- HTML Sitemaps
- Video Sitemaps
- RSS/Atom Sitemaps
- Image Sitemaps
- News Sitemaps
1- XML Sitemap
As we mentioned earlier, XML Sitemap is a file that website owners upload in the root folder of their website. This file includes all the pages of a website that tell Search Engien Bots about the structure of the webs that helps Google and other Search Engines to easily crawl and Index any website. The main reason behind genrating XML Sitemap is to help Search Engines.
2- HTML Sitemap
HTML Sitemap also consist a list of all important pages of a website. But the main difference between XML and HTML Sitemap is that HTML Sitemap is created to help users, not the search engine. HTML Sitemap is a typical fun din second level of nesting.
3- Video Sitemap
Video Sitemap contains detials about a video content on any webpage. These details can be video URLs, titles, descriptions, and other relevant metadata.
4- RSS/Atom Sitemap
Websites like News Webistes and other websites that are updating frequently on a daily or hourly basis use RSS/Atom to keep the search engine updated about their newly published content. RSS/Atom Sitemaps does this for such websites.
5- Image Sitemap
Image Sitemap are used to tell Google and other Search Engines about the images available on your website. This kind of Sitemap play a very important role in ecommerce website where they have a lot of product images.
6- Image Sitemap
As clear with the name News Sitemap. This kind of sitemap are designed for news websites and provide information about news
Do You Really Need A Sitemap?
You do not really need an XML Sitemap if your website is small or medium size. Yes, it is true. Google and other Search Engines can easily crawl and index your small size websites. XML Sitemap actually helps huge sites with Thousands of URLs.But, it doesn’t mean you do not need to create a sitemap and update. Having a Sitemap is always a good practice for all sizes of the website.
Benefits of XML Sitemaps
- URLs Crawling and Indexing
- Improved Visibility
- Quick Content Updates
1- URLs Crawling and Indexing
Having an XML Sitemap for a website can be beneficial in many ways. One of the most important benefits is that it can help your website to get crawled and index faster by the search engine. Specially if you are relaying on SEO Search Engine Optimization, then crawling of all the important pages is crucial for you. Because crawling is the first step, search engine bots will do then the y index if they found the page useful. XML Sitemap is the perfect way to tell search engine about your pages in a well structure and organized way so that they can easily crawl it and index it. Additionally, having an XML Sitemap ill provide all the links at one place, so the bots can easily navigate to all the available page on your pages easily.
2- Improved Visibility
A well-structured sitemap can help you to improve your website visibility in search rankings by making it easy accessible and crawlable to their bots. We mentioned earlier that crawling is very important for indexing, and indexing is also crucial in website ranking. A correct XML Sitemap can help you to achieve both at a same time.
3- Content Updates
There are options in a standard XML Sitemap about the frequency of update, that is the main reason News Websites have a separate sitemap because the content on news websites are updating on hourly basis and sometime before that. And those content needs to be updated, crawl and index ASAP. An error free Sitemap can do this dynamically for you
XML Sitemap Best Practices To Follow
There are some best practices that can help yo to create, mange and use XML Sitemap is the best possible way, and you need to follow them to get the best results out of it.
- Do Not Miss Key Pages: Include all the important pages of your website in the XML Sitemap without missing. So they will be crawled and indexed at top priority
- Valid XML Structure Is Crucial: Your XML Sitemaps should be valid and follow the standards. You can not add anything by our own in the sitemap that is not valid.
- Submit XML Sitemap to Search Consoles: Many webmasters ignore this part, which is not a good practice. You need to submit the sitemap in Google Search Console also. To do that, you have to access to the Google Search Console, where you can add submit the sitemap link. You can also check if there is anything wrong or any error in the sitemap.
- Keep File Size Manageable: Do not increase the XML Sitemap more than 50MB. If you are managing a big site, then the best practice is to generate multiple sitemaps. Also include maximum 500 links in each sitemap to keep the file size manageable.
How to Create an XML Sitemap?
There are 2 main ways to create XML Sitemap
- Create XML Sitemap Using Online Tools
- Generate XML Sitemap Manually
Create XML Sitemap Using Online Tools
If you want to make an XML Sitemap using free online tool the best example is the website where you are currently reading this XML Sitemap guide.
Using our advance XML Sitemap Generator you can create unlimited XML Sitemaps for free.
Here is the steps to follow and generate an XML Sitemap
- Open https://xmlsitemaps.dev/
- Enter your website URL
- Choose XML, HTML based on your need
- Choose the number of links you want to add in the sitemap
- Select the Change Frequency Daily, Weekly, Monthly, And Yearly
- Finally choose the Priority
- Click on Generate Sitemap and wait for few seconds. Your XML Sitemap will be generated and you can Copy and Download it directly
Generate XML Sitemap Manually
To create an XML Sitemap manually you need to know XML Language so that you can write valid XML codes. This method is only recommended for those who are experienced in writing XML code and can understand what they are actually doing. Otherwise you may hurt your SEO by writing a wrong XML Sitemap. Because this is the file that will give the Search Engine all the links you have on your website. Missing or writing a wrong URL can be a reason of not-indexing links.
How To Check If You Have A Sitemap Already?
To check if there is already a Sitemap is very easy. Add "sitemap.xml" just next to the domain name in the browser and hit enter.
For Example. https://www.google.com/sitemap.xml/
How To Add A Sitemap To Your Website?
At this stage you might already have generated an XML Sitemap using our website. But the next and main question is how to add this sitemap to your website.
- Login to your hosting and open file manager
- Go to public_html folder
- Click on the File Uplaod Icon on the top
- Choose the downloaded XML File
- Upload it here in the main root folder of your webiste
How To Submit your XML sitemap to Google Search Console?
Another important part that needs to be done is to add the sitemap to Google Search Console to get all details about the organic traffic, ranking keywords, clicks, impressions, CTR, etc. you're getting on your website. Google Search Console is a great tool to get all these updates.
Steps To Add XML Sitemap To Googel Search Console
- Sign-up/Signp-In to Google Search Console
- Go to Sitemaps tab in the left hand side
- Inside the "Add A New Sitemap" next to your domain name add this "sidemap.xml"
