Sitemaps are a key part of SEO, and if you’re not using them, it could impact your whole digital marketing strategy. Fortunately, we’re going to discuss what sitemaps are, why they are important, and how to create and submit them. We’ll also talk about some of the benefits of using sitemaps for SEO purposes.
What’s a Sitemap?
In short, a sitemap is a list of all the pages on your website. This includes both the public and private pages, as well as any files that might be of use to search engines (such as PDFs). Sitemaps can be either in HTML or XML format – typically, XML sitemaps are used for SEO purposes.
Why Use a Sitemap?
This all sounds great, but why would you want a list of all the pages on your website? For one thing, it can be very helpful for search engine crawlers. When a crawler comes to your site, it will use the sitemap to get an overview of all the content that’s available. This can be especially useful if your website is large and complex, or if it has pages that are not easily accessible from the home page.
Suddenly, you’re not leaving anything to chance – the crawler can see everything that you want it to, and you’re much more likely to be indexed properly. In addition, a sitemap can be a fantastic way to provide visitors with an overview of your site’s content. If you have a lot of pages, or if your structure is complicated, a sitemap can be a lifesaver for visitors who are trying to find their way around.
Therefore, you’re probably not surprised to hear that more businesses are implementing sitemaps as part of their SEO strategy. If you’re not sure how to get started, don’t worry – this guide will walk you through the basics of sitemaps. Of course, you can also contact an SEO agency in the USA to help with everything related to your technical SEO.
How Do You Create a Sitemap?
There are two types of sitemaps: HTML and XML. HTML sitemaps are designed for humans, while XML sitemaps are designed for search engine crawlers. If you want to create an HTML sitemap, all you need to do is create a regular web page that contains links to all the other pages on your website. After clicking on this page, website visitors will be able to see the structure of your website.
XML sitemaps are a bit more complicated, but you can use a tool like XML-Sitemaps.com to generate one for you. Once you have your XML sitemap, all you need to do is upload it to your website’s root directory.
Once you have your sitemap set up, the next step is to submit it to Google. You can do this by logging into your Google Search Console account and navigating to the “Sitemaps” section. From there, you just need to add the URL of your sitemap and submit it.
If you’ve completed all these steps, congratulations – you’ve successfully set up a sitemap for your website. Now all you need to do is wait for Google to start crawling and indexing your pages. In most cases, this will happen relatively quickly. However, it’s important to note that there is no guaranteed timeframe for when this will happen.
With your pages indexed, you can start reaping the benefits of having a sitemap. Not only will it help improve your website’s crawlability, but it can also lead to better search engine visibility and a higher ranking in SERPs.
