What is XML Sitemap ?
An XML sitemap is a list of the most important pages, videos and other assets on a website. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo use sitemaps to find and crawl website pages, then can add them to search results.
What is the difference between XML Sitemap and HTML Sitemap ?
An HTML sitemap focuses on making the website more user-friendly for humans. They make it easier for users to navigate your site. An HTML sitemap is an HTML page on which all subpages of a website are listed. It is usually linked in the footer of a site and is therefore visible to all visitors. The purpose of HTML sitemaps is to guide visitors.
XML sitemaps guide search engine bots, to ensure they find a site’s URLs to index.
How big the Sitemap can be?
There is no limit to how big your site can be. There is, however limitation on how big any single XML sitemap file can be. A single XML sitemap as per Google Guidelines can not exceed:
- 50,000 URLs
- 50 MB uncompressed file size If your Sitemap is larger than this, you cab break it into several smaller Sitemaps. These limits help ensure that your web server is not overloaded by serving Extra large files to Google. But in real world, very few SEO Professionals have to deal with such large Sitemaps unless they work for very large data base website.
If you could clarify : Who creates XML ? Is this Yoast Plugin or CMS Like WordPress ?
XML sitemaps can be created by both WordPress (or other CMS platforms) and plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath or AIO SEO. Many CMS platforms, including WordPress, generate basic sitemaps automatically. However, plugins like Yoast SEO enhance functionality by offering features to customize, optimize, and manage your sitemap for better search engine indexing. If you’re using WordPress with Yoast, the plugin usually takes over sitemap creation and management. The Yoast SEO plugin (like other well known plugins in SEO Industry) automatically creates an XML sitemap for you. This is done automatically on the installation of Yoast, unless there are major issues affecting the creation of your sitemap.
How does an XML Sitemap help search engines crawl a website?
An XML sitemap helps search engines like Google or Bing discover and crawl your website’s pages more efficiently. This is especially useful for websites with a large number of pages or pages that are not easily accessible through the website’s navigation menu.
What are different types of XML Sitemaps?
There are following 4 types of XML Site Maps :
i Image : It is for images. Having an image sitemap helps images get featured in Google or Bing image Search
ii Video : Video Sitemap helps videos get featured in SERPs. It helps Search Engine bots better understand video content.
iii News : A news sitemap helps articles get featured in the News Section of Google SERPs.
iv Mobile : A Mobile Sitemap is only required if you have a specially formatted version designed for mobile devices
Do I really need a XML Sitemap for my Website ?
It is not mandatory to have one. If the website is small and all pages are interlinked then we can go without an XML Sitemap. But it is considered to be a good SEO Practice to have one.
But if the website is really big (say millions of pages), then having XML Sitemap may benefit you greatly.
How often should I update my XML Sitemap?
How can I check if my XML Sitemap is indexed by search engines?
Enter your website URL in the browser and then try with a few different variations. Let me show you:
- www.YourWebsiteUrl.com/sitemap.xml
- www.yourwebsiteurl.com/sitemap_index.xml (which is the index of all the sitemaps in case a website has more than one).
What are the XML Sitemap best practices ?
1 Include All Important Pages: Ensure your XML sitemap lists all crucial pages/posts, excluding those you don’t want indexed.
2 Update Regularly: Keep your sitemap updated to reflect any new, removed, or modified pages.
3 Limit URLs per Sitemap: Keep it under 50,000 URLs or 50MB to ensure proper crawling.
4 Prioritize Key Pages: Use priority tags (1 to 0) to highlight your most important pages to search engines.
5 Submit to Google Search Console: Always submit your XML sitemap to GSC for efficient indexing.
Just wondering if only 1 sitemap needs to be indexed? Or do posts and page sitemaps separately need to be indexed in the search console?
What is priority tag in XML Sitemap ?
The priority tag tells Google how important the page is where 1 (the highest) to 0 (the lowest). Sitemap priority values go from 1.0 to 0.0 with the 1.0 value indicating the most important page on your website site. Priority values will be: 1.0, 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.0.
Will the priority tag in the XML Sitemap change the ranking of my pages in search results?
The “priority” tag in your Sitemap only indicates the importance of a particular page/post relative to other URLs on your own website and does not have any effect on the ranking of your pages in Google search results.
What are the steps in submitting sitemap to Google using Google Search Console ?
Assuming that you already have website in Google Search Console here are the steps to submit XML Sitemap :
i On browser > Go to your website > after the domain > Add “Sitemap.xml” like : https://paramvirminhas.com/sitemap.xml
ii Copy the sitemap part of the link
iii On Google Search Console : Indexing > Sitemaps > Add a new sitemap
iv On Enter new sitemap URL > Paste that link > Press submit
You will get the message > Sitemap Submitted Successfully
Perry Minhas, SEO Expert Calgary, is a subject-matter expert ready to assist you negotiate all the changes and acquire more leads; he has 10+ years of expertise managing Technical SEO of WordPress websites. His SEO Training in Calgary will compile an advanced Technical SEO including XML Sitemaps related questions to maximize your GBP. Living in Alberta, you can get XML Sitemaps training by visiting his office in NE Calgary.
