What's XML Sitemap?
As the name suggests, XML sitemap is an XML document that contains a list of all URL address that exist on your domain. This helps search engine crawlers/spiders to properly index the entire content of your website. As well as that every address in the map of the site contains META information which helps for the bots to find out when the content was was modified and what's new on this address.
What files are supported by XML Sitemap?
Different search engines use the XML sitemap in different ways. For example, Google allows you to include the following types:
To see what the requirements for a specific search engine are exactly, refer for the supported file types by it.
What are the limits of XML Sitemap?
Every XML sitemap can contain within itself up to 50 000 URL addresses and cannot exceed the size of 10 MB. If you cannot fit in that requirements, you can always split it into more files according to the categories in the different URL addresses in it.
How to make an XML Sitemap?
There are two main situations in the creating of your XML sitemap - to use a software/plugin or to manually create this file, which contains all the addresses on your domain.
Automatic creation of XML Sitemap:
If you are using a CMS (Content Management System) for the manipulation of your content like Joomla, Drupal or Wordpress, there most probably is a plugin for those who will generate you the XML sitemap. I never used the following but they might work for you: Xenu Link Sleuth or MS SEO Toolkit. Both of them will allow you to create the file and save it into an XML format.
Manual creation of XML Sitemap:
If you happen to do it manually, make sure you follow the following structure:
Code:
For more information refer to the documentation.
Where to upload my XML Sitemap?
After you create it, one of the best places is Google, of course. In Google you can do that from a webmaster account and navigating to Optimization -> Sitemaps. You'll stumble on something similar to this:
![[Image: nNj2fUg.png]](http://i.imgur.com/nNj2fUg.png "[Image: nNj2fUg.png]")
Now as logic states, whenever you make modifications to your website you should also update the XML sitemap. Therefore you need to upload the new version to your webmasters' account again. Thanks for reading!
As the name suggests, XML sitemap is an XML document that contains a list of all URL address that exist on your domain. This helps search engine crawlers/spiders to properly index the entire content of your website. As well as that every address in the map of the site contains META information which helps for the bots to find out when the content was was modified and what's new on this address.
What files are supported by XML Sitemap?
Different search engines use the XML sitemap in different ways. For example, Google allows you to include the following types:
- HTML pages
- Video files
- Images
- Addresses for mobile users (not sure actually)
- News
To see what the requirements for a specific search engine are exactly, refer for the supported file types by it.
What are the limits of XML Sitemap?
Every XML sitemap can contain within itself up to 50 000 URL addresses and cannot exceed the size of 10 MB. If you cannot fit in that requirements, you can always split it into more files according to the categories in the different URL addresses in it.
How to make an XML Sitemap?
There are two main situations in the creating of your XML sitemap - to use a software/plugin or to manually create this file, which contains all the addresses on your domain.
Automatic creation of XML Sitemap:
If you are using a CMS (Content Management System) for the manipulation of your content like Joomla, Drupal or Wordpress, there most probably is a plugin for those who will generate you the XML sitemap. I never used the following but they might work for you: Xenu Link Sleuth or MS SEO Toolkit. Both of them will allow you to create the file and save it into an XML format.
Manual creation of XML Sitemap:
If you happen to do it manually, make sure you follow the following structure:
Code:
Code:
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url>
<loc>http://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>[Date goes here]</lastmod>
<changefreq>[Never/Regularly]</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://example.com/Keeper.html</loc>
<lastmod>[Latest modification]</lastmod>
<changefreq>[Never/Regularly]</changefreq>
<priority>0.7</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://example.com/Keeper.html</loc>
<lastmod>[Latest modification]</lastmod>
<changefreq>[Never/Regularly]</changefreq>
<priority>0.6</priority>
</url>
</urlset>For more information refer to the documentation.
Where to upload my XML Sitemap?
After you create it, one of the best places is Google, of course. In Google you can do that from a webmaster account and navigating to Optimization -> Sitemaps. You'll stumble on something similar to this:
Now as logic states, whenever you make modifications to your website you should also update the XML sitemap. Therefore you need to upload the new version to your webmasters' account again. Thanks for reading!