How to Build and Submit XML Sitemap for your Website

Submitting a sitemap to Google allows the search engine to crawl and index your content. Which is advantageous for your SEO. 

Understood? No, I guess 😥! Okay let's do some chit-chat😀..

Suppose you are not so techy person, but you want your website goes above when someone searches a content that is relevent to your niche. How will you do so? This is where the google sitemap generator comes to the picture. 

That's all you need to know right now. I will walk you through the baby steps of this seo sitemap journey in just a minute!💫

Table of Content

• What is a Sitemap?
• Why is a sitemap important for SEO?
• Which sitemap format is best used for SEO?
• What should be included in XML sitemap?
• How to create XML Sitemap?
• How to Use XML Sitemaps to Boost SEO?

What is a Sitemap?

Google says,

“If your site’s pages are properly linked, our web crawlers can usually discover most of your site.”

  Let me make it easy for you. You wont need sitemap generator for your website. But It can hurt your SEO efforts. 

How?😥

For example, Google mostly finds webpages via links. And if your site is brand new and has only a few external hyperlinks, a sitemap will assist Google identify pages on your site.

Why is a sitemap important for SEO?

Sitemaps are not a ranking criteria, and search engines will not punish you for not using one. Even without a sitemap, your site can score well in search results. But, having a sitemap gives your sites significant SEO benefits.

Search engines may take some time to identify a new website. Thankfully, you can speed up the process by uploading a sitemap to search engines. In this way, you notify them of your website's presence and allow them to find your URLs more quickly than regular levels.

Your xml sitemap should only include URLs for significant that you want to appear in search results. When a search engine crawler sees a URL in your sitemap, it understands that you want it to appear in search results.

Which sitemap format is best used for SEO?

One word answer - XML sitemap. 

Why?😏

This is the ideal web page format for sitemap submissions. Not all search engines accept the sitemaps listed below; however, the XML sitemap for web pages is supported by all search engines that use sitemaps.org.

What should be included in XML sitemap?

Your sitemap file should include the most significant pages and their information. Page information may contain when the page was last updated, how frequently the page is modified, and any alternate language versions of a page.

How to create XML Sitemap?

Google Search Console (GSC), formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, allows you to submit your sitemap straight.

Now follow this 4 easy-peasy😁 steps:

Log in to Google Search Console

First, go into your Google Search Console account.

Then, in the upper left corner, pick the website for which you wish to submit a sitemap.

Go to the ‘Sitemaps’ Report

The "Indexing" section on the left sidebar menu contains a "Sitemaps" report. Navigate there.

This is where you can manage all of your sitemaps. It has two major sections:

• "Add a new sitemap" 
• "Submitted sitemaps"

For now, we will focus on the 1st one.

Find the URL of Your Sitemap

There are two types of sitemaps: XML and HTML. 

HTML sitemaps are not used for SEO, therefore we'll concentrate on XML sitemaps here. 

Add a New Sitemap

You can now submit your sitemap to the "Add a new sitemap" section. 

Simply paste the URL and click "Submit."

You will get an alert verifying that your sitemap was successfully submitted.

After a while, your sitemap will appear in the list of "Submitted sitemaps." 

It includes information on when the sitemap was submitted, when it was last checked, and how many pages Google discovered inside it.

Most importantly, a green "Success" status shows there are no difficulties😌.

How to Use XML Sitemaps to Boost SEO?

Submit your Sitemap to Google

Take a small note that Google lets you submit sitemaps up to 50 MB in size, and you can only submit 50,000 URLs. You will need to divide your file into multiple sitemaps if it is longer or contains more URLs. In this situation, you have two options: either make a sitemap index and send Google just this file, or send Google each sitemap separately.

Pay Extra Attention to Indexing Issues

It is a good idea to separate pages on large websites into separate XML sitemaps and submit them as I described above. Otherwise you won't be able to identify the indexing issues on your website more easily.

Put Quality Pages in your Sitemap

The quality of the website is an important factor for SEO. Put high quality pages of your website in the google sitemap.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which sitemap format is best used for SEO?

XML Sitemap Files for Web Pages. This is the recommended web page format for submissions. The XML sitemap for web pages is supported by all search engines that use sitemaps.org.

Why add sitemap to website?

This file is read by search engines such as Google so that they can scan your site more effectively. A sitemap informs search engines about the pages and files on your website that you believe are significant, as well as providing useful information about those files.

What is a sitemap in SEO?

A sitemap is a blueprint for your website that allows search engines to identify, crawl, and index all of its information. Sitemaps also notify search engines which pages of your website are the most significant.

Does a sitemap help SEO?

Sitemaps benefit search engines in correctly indexing and ranking all of your pages by providing them with a roadmap of your site's content. This ultimately leads to more organic visitors and better SEO performance.

What is the limit of sitemap?

Sitemaps should be no greater than 50MB (52,428,800 bytes) and have a maximum of 50,000 URLs. These limitations assist to guarantee that your web server doesn't get bogged down while delivering huge files.