SEO resource, but it is essential for your positioning: the sitemap . The map of your website works as a master key so that crawlers can locate your content and index it appropriately.
Given their importance, they cannot be left out of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy .
In this article I explain everything you need to know about sitemaps and how to create one for WordPress.
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A sitemap is a file that stores the structure of a website, listing the most important pages and their respective subcategories.
Your content is analyzed by search engine crawlers to index it into their databases, so that it appears among the results when users perform a search.
In simpler terms, this map is a way to tell Google what information on your website is relevant, when it was last updated, whether there are additional language versions, and more.
The information about the content displayed on it depends on its category.
As I have already mentioned, the main purpose of a sitemap is to help search engines navigate between your web pages to index them easily.
In addition to this, there are other elements that explain its importance.
Sitemaps keep search engines up to date There is a very simple
By recording these changes, the information users see in search results will always be the most recent.
2. Improve access
If you have an online store, your site probably has a considerable number of pages.
Unless all of your internal links are perfect, Google will have a hard time finding every single page.
This is where sitemaps come into play, as they allow you to access broken links or orphan pages.
3. They prioritize content
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Using this map of your website, you can tell search engines which parts of your site are most important, so they can give them priority when indexing.
4. They facilitate navigation
HTML sitemaps, which we’ll look at later, help your website visitors navigate between different sections and easily find the content they’re looking for.
Types of sitemapsThere are two types of maps that have SEO value. Let’s see what they are.
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Sitemaps are by far the most commonly There is a very simple
This is a list that groups the most relevant URLs, including information about their last update date, frequency of changes and level of importance.
Based on this, crawlers can prioritize certain content for positioning in search engines.
HTML
Unlike XML sitemaps, which are targeted at web crawlers, HTML sitemaps are created to make it easier for website visitors to navigate.
Basically, they are displayed as an index or table that groups the contents in a hierarchical and easy-to-understand way.
In most cases they are found in the footer of websites.
How to create a sitemap with WordPress?
Creating sitemaps is usually not a concern, as a comprehensive guide to ai in marketing they are automatically generated by most CMS , including WordPress.
But if you want to optimize your website in a more personalized way and give specific information to the crawlers, you can create your sitemap using plugins such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math, among others.
If you install the Yoast plugin , it will create a new map automatically, but this time you will be able to configure it.
Under “XML Sitemaps,” choose “View XML Sitemap There is a very simple
Below you will see the list of URLs generated by Yoast, including posts, pages, media, etc.
There you can make a series of manual settings, such as excluding content that you do not want to be indexed.
Google XML Sitemaps
Through this Google plugin you can make more advanced configurations.
One of its advantages is that it allows you to send sitemaps to search engines immediately.
You just need to install the plugin in WordPress and then go to “Settings” -> “XML-Sitemap” to see the generated list of URLs.
To notify search engines, you need to go to
There you can check the boxes to submit your map to either Google or Bing.
Rank Math
Like the other two options, Rank Math generates a sitemap by default once you install the plugin.
However, you can make some general adjustments.
In the “General” tab you can set the maximum number of links you want to list for each system.
You can also index important ph numbers images, as well as exclude entries or terms so that they stay off the radar of crawlers.
How to check if your sitemap is correct?
Just as easy as it is to create a sitemap, it’s just as quick and easy to check it to make sure it doesn’t contain any errors or broken links.
To verify this, the easiest option is to use an auditing tool, which will scan your website and tell you if there are any technical issues.
Tools like SE Ranking , Semrush , Ahrefs , SEO Spider, Sitechecker, among many others, are responsible for reviewing your entire website for errors, including the sitemaps you have stored.
Among the most common problems you might e
Remember that you can also perform the verification through Google Search Console , which will crawl the sitemaps and send you a detailed report with the number of URLs it has detected.
How to find a sitemap?
A website’s sitemap is not visible to the naked eye. But don’t worry, it is very easy to locate.
You can do it with any of these methods:
Manually
Manual verification is the easiest. It consists of typing a URL directly into the address bar of your browser.
If the site has sitemaps enabled, you will see an index containing all the sitemaps and their links.
Robots.txt
“Robots.txt” is the name of a plain text file that is part of the root directory of a website, and is used to tell web crawlers which sections should be indexed and which should not.
This is the address you should use to access
Google itself offers a free service that analyzes the performance of your website in search engines.
The tool is Google Search Console , and your map may be located there.
To check, find the “Indexing” section in the main menu and then choose “Sitemaps.”
Search Commands
A fourth alternative is to use search commands from the search engine of your choice, such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Nowadays, having a sitemap is not an option.
For example, it is a good option if your online portal is large and has many sections, since there is a risk that some pages are not correctly linked, falling off the radar of Google and other search engines.
If your website is relatively new, it is also advisable to have one.
This is because there are still few external links pointing to your page , which is one of the criteria that crawlers follow to index websites.
