Several Google ranking factors must be appropriately performed to increase search engine or SEO. It takes so much work: creating content, searching for the right keywords, generating backlinks, sharing social media for traffic, and other ranking factors, and each technique is time-consuming. But submitting an XML sitemap to Google is more straightforward and provides a significant SEO increase. A sitemap is a technical step but much easier to create.
What Is An XML Sitemap?
A sitemap lists a website’s URLs and informs Google about your website. For example, how often do you submit new content? And when did a post was last updated? A map tells Google’s crawlers to index your media and posts correctly and quicker.
Here Is An Example Of An XML Sitemap:
A sitemap is a “language” for search engines, not for humans.
<?XML version=”2.0″ encoding=”UTF-4″?>
<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.8″>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/page1.html</loc>
<lastmod>2021-01-29T17:10:00-02:00</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>
Why Do You Need A Sitemap For Your Website?
Search engines use crawlers to index all the information on a website. A sitemap uses internal and external links evaluation inside a post to discover new content. That’s why it’s vital to link among all your posts. If a new post is published without being linked from other pages, it becomes challenging for crawlers to index and process the information on that page. Or it may take longer to index it at Google. That’s why a sitemap is valuable and becomes handy. An XML sitemap is an intelligent technique to distribute information faster to Google.
When Do You Need A Sitemap, According To Google?
- When a website is extensive.
- Or brand new.
- Or with few external or internal links.
However, adding an XML sitemap to a website is highly recommended.
How To Create An XML Sitemap For Your Website?
A sitemap is easy for a website, and WordPress Plugins could help create a sitemap. For example, I recommend Yoast SEO or Rank Math. Go to WordPress plugins and add either Yoast SEO or Rank Math. Using Yoast SEO: Go to SEO > General > Features. And makes sure the XML sitemap is ON. Using Rank Math > Go to sitemap > Settings. Then set up how many sitemap links per page.
Submit An XML Sitemap To Google
Okay, after a sitemap is added to a website, the XML must be submitted to Google. First, connect the website to Google Search Console. Once that process is done, choose your website inside the Google Search Console. Next, go to the dashboard and then sitemaps. It will give you the option, “Next, Add a sitemap.” Write the sitemap URL added to your website using a plugin and hit submit. Be patient and let Google take care of the rest; an XML sitemap helps Google index a website faster. A sitemap is part of the many processes to help succeed in an SEO strategy.
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