What is an XML Sitemap in WordPress?
An XML sitemap serves as an index of your website’s content in XML format. This format is readable for machines, particularly search engines like Google.
The XML sitemap houses details for all the pages present on your website and relays them to search engines. Essentially, it acts as a roadmap for these search engines, guiding them through all the public pages available for indexing.
Development & Introduction of XML Sitemaps
Functionality of XML Sitemaps
Creating an XML sitemap enhances the efficiency with which search engines can crawl through your website’s pages. This is beneficial for expansive websites or those with content not readily accessible via the navigation menu.
Offering a comprehensive list of all pages via the XML sitemap ensures they can be discovered and indexed by search engines.
Though XML sitemaps don’t directly lift your search engine rankings, they do facilitate better crawling of your site. As a result, your content is more likely to appear in search results, enhancing search traffic and potentially bettering SEO rankings.
Steps to Optimize an XML Sitemap
Initially introduced by Google in 2005, XML Sitemaps aimed to make website crawling more efficient for search engines. Due to the increasing complexity and volume of websites, search engines faced difficulties in tracking all available content. With the XML Sitemap, all pertinent website data could be placed on a single page, facilitating faster and more accurate search engine access.
The protocol for XML Sitemaps, released under the Attribution/Share Alike Creative Commons license, received official support from Yahoo and Microsoft soon after its introduction. It has been updated over time, with the current version being the Sitemap 0.9 protocol. This information and more is available on www.sitemaps.org, a website dedicated to the protocol.
Include Relevant Pages
Remember to include pages that are vital for your site’s functionality and user experience. These could include the homepage, the About Us section, and various articles or blog posts.
Exclude Irrelevant Pages
On the flip side, you might not want search engines to index every single page. Mark these as ‘no-index’ or add them to a specific category that you can then exclude from your sitemap.
Utilize Sub-Sitemaps
If your sitemap includes sub-sitemaps, you’ll have greater control over its contents. This flexibility is valuable when determining which pages should be included or excluded.
Robots.txt File
Another key optimization strategy is to add your sitemap to your robots.txt file. This can be done by entering http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml at the beginning of the robots.txt file.
Effective Methods for XML Sitemap Creation
Manual Creation in WordPress 5.5 and Later
Starting with version 5.5, WordPress has a built-in feature for XML sitemap generation. This lets you create a rudimentary XML sitemap without requiring any additional plugins. Append wp-sitemap.xml to your domain name to access it.
Utilizing the AIOSEO Plugin
The All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin streamlines the XML sitemap creation process. After activating the plugin, there are customization options that allow you to dictate what gets included in your sitemap.
Employing the Yoast SEO Plugin
Yoast SEO offers another plugin-based option for creating your XML sitemap. Navigate to the SEO → General page and proceed to the ‘Features’ tab. Ensure that the ‘XML Sitemap’ toggle is enabled.
How to Submit Your XML Sitemap to Search Engines
Google Search Console Steps
- Sign in to Google Search Console.
- Choose your verified website property.
- Access the “Sitemaps” section.
- Input the XML sitemap URL in the designated field.
- Finalize by clicking “Submit.”
Additional Search Engines
Besides Google, consider submitting your XML sitemap to other search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo, through their respective webmaster tools.
Maintenance of Your XML Sitemap
Frequent updates are essential for maintaining an effective XML sitemap. Amend the “lastmod” element for each page when you update its content. Always add newly published pages and delete any that have been removed from your site.
Every time you make substantial changes, re-submit the updated sitemap to search engines.
Protocols and File Formats
The XML Sitemap follows a specific protocol consisting of XML tags. The file must be UTF-8 encoded and can also be a plain text list of URLs or compressed in .gz format.
Sitemap Index and Size Limitations
For extensive websites, the XML Sitemap protocol allows the listing of multiple sitemaps in a ‘Sitemap index’ file. This is particularly useful given the sitemap size limitation of 50 MiB or 50,000 URLs.