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XML Sitemaps 101

XML Sitemaps 101

Most website owners know the importance of search engine optimization or SEO. They may know that search engines crawl their websites for content and keywords to rank them in their results pages.

They may not know that search engines rely on a file known as an XML sitemap to crawl and rank their website. This file is created by the website owner and submitted to search engines. It should also be regularly updated along with the website.

Here are six best practices for creating and maintaining XML sitemaps:

1. Include All URLs
Each page of your website should have its own URL. These should be included in the sitemap to tell the search engines what pages to crawl. Think of your sitemap as the index page in a book and your URLS as the chapters.

If you’re an online retailer that sells a large number of products, you need to ensure that you only include the most relevant URLs. Most sitemaps are limited to around 50,000 URLs. However, many small business websites never reach that many URLs.

2. Note When You Last Modified Your Site
No matter what industry you’re in, information is constantly changing. To keep up, you may update your website with new information. For search engines to be aware of these changes, you should include a tag in your sitemap noting when the site was last modified.

If you don’t have the time to devote to keeping your sitemap updated, use a dynamically generated XML sitemap. Many website content management systems, like WordPress, provide you with this option.

3. Remove Redirects & Errors
The URLs of your website have codes attached to them that tell you if you can successfully reach the pages they’re linked to. An example of this is the 404 error. If you have any URLs that no longer exist or have these codes attached, remove them from your sitemap.

If you’re migrating your site and have a temporary redirect, you can keep that in. However, once the site is fully migrated, make sure to remove the URL with that redirect. That way, search engines will only crawl active pages on your website.

4. Less is More
Like any file you attach to your website, your file size should be as small as possible. If needed, compress the file before adding it to your website. This saves the search engine time as it crawls the file.

If you have a large website, remember to keep URLs with a single sitemap. While you can have multiple sitemaps, most websites only need one. That said, you only need to submit an URL once with a single sitemap.

5. Images & Videos
Visual elements, like images and videos, make up your website. If you have several photos or videos, you may want to make sitemaps for just these elements. If not, these should also be included in your website’s XML sitemap.

While images and videos may not have unique URLs to the pages they exist on, XML sitemaps can help search engines like Google find and understand video and image files on your website.

6. Submit Your Sitemap
Once you’ve made all of the necessary changes to your website’s XML sitemap, it’s time to submit it to search engines to be crawled. Google Search Console and similar programs allow you to make this submission.

These programs also allow you to see any errors in your sitemap. Then, they provide you with actionable items to fix them, along with data regarding your website’s performance in search engines.

Need to Create an XML Sitemap?
Whether you have a new website or are updating an existing one, now is the time to create or edit your site’s XML sitemap. If you need help with your XML sitemap or other aspects of your website’s search engine optimization, contact Links Web Design for a free consultation.

Links Web Design is a search engine marketing agency in Bangor, ME, and Fruitland Park, FL

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