What is a sitemap and how to create it
Optimizing organic search traffic is a vital task for anyone managing a website. Therefore, anything you can do to make it easier for search engines to find your content should be a priority. One of the most commonly used tools for website indexing is the well-known sitemap.
A sitemap file, as its name suggests, is a "site map" that helps Google determine how to index your website. This file contains the URLs that should be indexed so Google can categorize them and display them according to relevant search queries. Having a sitemap file is essential if you want Google to update your URLs and if you want to appear in its search results.
XML-format sitemaps allow you to directly import your desired indexing configuration into Google's tool, Google Search Console. We have included a link so you can access it.
How to create a sitemap file?
At cdmon, we recommend creating your sitemap using a CMS plugin, since creating one manually requires technical programming knowledge. In this guide, we will show you how to create a sitemap in WordPress, which is the most widely used CMS, although all major CMS platforms provide tools for sitemap generation.
The plugin to install is called XML Sitemap Generator for Google. The first step is to access your WordPress administration panel and install the plugin.
Most SEO plugins already include a sitemap generation feature, such as "Yoast SEO" or "All in One SEO", and these can be used without any problem. However, for this guide, we have chosen to use a plugin specifically designed for XML sitemap generation.
To access the plugin settings at any time, simply go to "Settings" and click on "XML Sitemap".
Once the plugin is activated, the first option presented is the possibility of subscribing to the plugin's newsletter in order to receive notifications and important updates:
Next, you can edit the URL names for the different sitemap types. You may customize them as desired, provided the file extension remains .xml. In any case, we recommend leaving the default filenames unchanged. The one we will use is the first option, labeled "XML Sitemap URL":
In the next section, you can configure the general settings. Here you can decide whether the sitemap should include all WordPress posts, only specific categories, or disable this option entirely. You can also choose to include images in the sitemap and automatically add links to the robots.txt file, among other settings:
Under Sitemap Defaults, you can define which content should be included in your sitemap and indexed. You can also assign priorities and update frequencies to each section.
Finally, you can add custom entries to your website's robots.txt file. Robots.txt files are used to block the indexing of specific URLs on your website.
Once you have configured everything as desired, simply click on Save Changes.
After completing these steps, your XML sitemap will be ready to be submitted to Google. To view it, simply access the file you defined in the previous steps. You can also access it from the plugin dashboard, on the right-hand side, under Sitemap Related URLs and then XML Sitemap:
You will be taken to your sitemap URL (yourdomainname.com/sitemapname.xml), which is the URL you must copy in order to import it into Google Search Console and other tools.
Note: You can access our guide How to index a website using a sitemap file in Google to learn how to import this file into Google Search Console.
For more information, you can contact us.
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