XML Sitemaps

Sitemaps are designed to provide search engines like Google and the Bing Network with a list of a website's pages to include in search results. The Google-developed XML Sitemap is the most commonly recommended sitemap format. You can submit this type of Sitemap directly to search engines to speed up your website's indexing. It's important to update and resubmit it regularly.

This article discusses the following topics.

Benefits of a Sitemap ⤵
How to Create an XML Sitemap ⤵
How to Add an XML Sitemap to your Website ⤵
How to Submit your Sitemap to Search Engines ⤵

Benefits of a Sitemap

Website crawling programs, such as spiders and robots, normally discover the pages of your site through inbound links from other sites as well as links from within your site. Here are the benefits of using an XML Sitemap.

Provides search engines with a complete list of your site's pages, allowing them to focus more on indexing rather than discovering the pages.
Enables you to provide additional details about each page, including its last modification date and priority.
Helps search engines in quickly discovering new content on your website.
Identifies broken links or errors on your website.

Submitting an XML Sitemap helps search engines, like Google, to index and crawl your website more efficiently. Most website owners see a change in page ranking within days!

How to Create an XML Sitemap

There are several XML Sitemap generators available online that are free of charge. The following XML Sitemap generators are the most commonly used:

Consider the following factors in choosing an XML Sitemap generator:

Size and complexity of your website
Features needed by your website

How to Add an XML Sitemap to your Website

Once you have downloaded the generated .xml file using Sitemap generators, you need to upload it to your website's document root, such as public_html. You can upload the Sitemap to your site's root directory through your File Manager or an FTP client.

How to Submit your XML Sitemap to Search Engines

Google is the top search engine and the most popular choice. Submitting your Sitemap to Google is important to help Google find and index your pages more effectively, which can improve your search ranking and online visibility.

Please note that the steps below may change (at any time) without our knowledge, as Google is a third-party website. These instructions are meant to guide you in submitting your Sitemap specifically to Google. You may always refer to Google Search Console documentation for the most up-to-date instructions and best practices.

To submit your XML Sitemap:

Create an XML Sitemap using a sitemap generator in XML format.
Verify your website in Google Search Console.
1. Sign in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Add your website to the Google Search Console by entering your website URL.
3. Choose a verification method and follow the listed instructions to verify your website ownership.
Submit your SiteMap to Google Search Console.
1. Within Google Search Console, navigate to Sitemaps.
2. Click on Add or Test Sitemap.
3. Enter your XML Sitemap URL. (Make sure you upload your XML Sitemap to your site's root directory.)
4. Click on Submit. A notification box will appear with something like "Sitemap submitted successfully."
5. Google Search Console will analyze your site and report any errors. Fix any issues found, if any, before resubmitting your Sitemap.
Give Google time to "crawl" your website. In the meantime, monitor your Sitemap. You can do so by checking the status of the Sitemap you submitted to your Google Search Console account.

If you make any significant changes to your website, it is recommended that you update your Sitemap and submit it again to Google Search Console.

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