How to create a sitemap

After reading my guide on how to create a site, you started a new blog and started publishing your first content. Even though you know that it can take months to get a good ranking on search engines, you have read that to “help” the latter to crawl the pages of an Internet site, it is essential to create a sitemap. Not being particularly knowledgeable on the subject, however, you do not have the faintest idea how to proceed and, for this reason, you would like my help again. If so, let me tell you that today is your lucky day!

In the next paragraphs, in fact, I will explain how to create a sitemap and how to submit it to search engines. After explaining the difference between sitemap and XML sitemap, I will show you how to create the latter by indicating both plugins for WordPress that can generate and send a sitemap automatically and alternative tools to use if your website is not made with the famous CMS (content management system). Additionally, you will find detailed steps for submitting an XML Sitemap to Google via Search Console.

If you can’t wait to find out more and deepen the subject, make yourself comfortable, take all the time you see fit and dedicate to reading the next paragraphs. Choose the tool that you think best suits your needs, carefully follow the instructions I am about to give you and I assure you that, by putting them into practice, you will be able to create and send the XML Sitemap of your website in no time. All that remains for me is to wish you good reading and a big good luck for everything.

Index

• Preliminary information
• Create an XML Sitemap
  • Create a WordPress sitemap
  • Other solutions to create a sitemap
• Create a sitemap for Google

Preliminary information

Before going into the details of this guide and explaining how to create a sitemap, it is necessary to make a necessary distinction between sitemap (often also called sitemap) and XML sitemap.

The first is a normal Web page in which a real sitemap is manually created with links to all the pages of the latter (or to the main sections for large websites), useful for facilitating both the navigation of human users who for crawling by the Google robot (called Googlebot ) which has the task of crawling the web to index the contents.

The XML Sitemap, on the other hand, is a file that collects all the URLs of an Internet site that the owner of the latter wants to submit to search engines for crawling and, consequently, for indexing such content. Having made this necessary premise, let’s take action.

Create an XML Sitemap

To create an XML Sitemap it is possible to rely on external tools which, after having scanned your website, automatically create a file containing all the URLs of the site itself.

Create a WordPress sitemap

If your website is built with WordPress, you will be pleased to know that there are numerous plugins to automatically create your blog’s XML Sitemap.

Among the first tools you can consider is Google XML Sitemap, a completely free plugin that not only creates an XML Sitemap, but automatically reports new published content to search engines ( Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask ). .

To add this plugin to your website, go to the Board of WordPress, click on the item Plugins present in the left sidebar and, in the new page open, presses the button Add New. Now, write ” Google XML Sitemap ” in the Search plugin in progress field and press the Install now button for the plugin in question, then wait for the installation to be completed and click the Activate button. If any steps are not clear to you, I leave you to my guide on how to use WordPress.

The Google XML Sitemap will automatically go into operation generating the XML sitemap of your website, which will be sent to search engines when existing content is first updated or when a new article or page is published. If, on the other hand, you want to send the Sitemap immediately, click on the Settings item, choose the XML-Sitemap option from the menu that appears and, in the new open page, click on your sitemap option visible next to the  Notify Search Engines about item.

It will be useful to know that, from the plugin settings, you can also manually add the pages to be included in the Sitemap by acting in the Additional Pages section, while in the Sitemap Content box you can choose which content to include or exclude ( homepage, articles, pages, tag pages, categories, author pages, etc.).

In addition to Google XML Sitemap, there are also other plugins to generate your website sitemap. Another popular tool you can consider is Yoast SEO, a free plugin (also available in a paid PRO version) that implements useful features in SEO optics (search engine optimization).

If you are already using this plugin to manage the Title and Meta description tags of your pages, surely the blog XML Sitemap has already been generated automatically after installing and activating Yoast SEO. To check it, access the WordPress Dashboard, click on the SEO item in the left sidebar, choose the Features tab and make sure that the lever under the XML Sitemap item is moved to ON.

If, on the other hand, you are using another XML sitemap builder plugin, disable the Yoast SEO sitemap builder feature – having two XML files is not beneficial for search engines and may slow down your site.

Other solutions to create a sitemap

If your website is built with another CMS or you want to know other solutions to create a Sitemap without relying on plugins, you can use XML-Sitemaps, a website that allows you to create your own XML Sitemap for free with ease.

To proceed, connected to the main page of XML-Sitemaps, enter the address of your website in the Your Website URL field and press the Start button. Wait, then, for the crawl of your site to be completed, press the View Sitemap details button and, in the new open page, click on the Download your XML Sitemap file button to download the XML file just generated on your computer.

In order for the XML sitemap created to be available on your website and to be sent to search engines, it must be uploaded to your webspace directory. To do this, you can use one of the FTP programs that allow you to create a connection with the server that host your website and upload and download files from it.

For example, if you use FileZilla, click on the Site Manager button   (the icon of the three white rectangles at the top left), press the New Site button   and enter the data required for the connection with the server which are usually indicated in the ’email sent by your web service provider upon activation.

After establishing the connection with the server, in the Remote site box  (bottom right) make sure you have selected the main folder of your website, then locate the XML file on your computer (and visible in the Local site box ), drag it in the folder indicated above and that’s it. To learn more, you can read my guide on how to use FileZilla.

Create a sitemap for Google

If you followed the instructions I gave you in the previous paragraphs, you should know that you have already created a sitemap for Google. All you have to do is communicate it to the famous search engine through Search Console, a free tool from Google that allows you to check the health of your website. 

To submit your XML Sitemap to Google through Search Console, connected to the main page of the service, press the Start now button and, if you have not already done so, log in with your Google account. Then choose the account you are interested in on the Choose an account screen, enter the password in the appropriate field and click on the Next button. If, on the other hand, you don’t have a Google account yet, my guide on how to create a Google account might be useful.

Now, click on the ≡ button at the top left, choose the Add property option, enter your website address in the Site URL field and click on the Continue button, then follow the instructions shown on the screen to verify your website and presses the Verify and Go to property buttons.

In the new open page, click on the Sitemap item in the left sidebar and enter the address of your XML Sitemap in the appropriate field. It will be useful to know that the XML Sitemap address is usually www.sitename.extension / sitemap.xml  or  www.sitename.extension / sitemap_index.xml if you use the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress.

Then copy the relative URL of your XML Sitemap (i.e. the part of the address that follows the domain extension), paste it in the field  Enter the Sitemap URL and press the Submit button. If everything went well, you will see the Sitemap sent message.

You should know that after submitting your XML Sitemap to Google, it will take a few days to process all the data and get the first feedback. In the Sitemap section of Search Console, as soon as Google finishes the first crawl of the submitted file, you will see the web pages submitted, those indexed, and any errors and warnings.