XML sitemap
A file that lists the important pages on your website, so search engines can find them and know when they were last updated.
An XML sitemap is a file, often at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml, that lists the pages you want search engines to know about. It can include when each page was last changed. It’s written for machines, not people, which is why it looks like code.
Why it matters to a small business
Search engines find pages mainly by following links. A sitemap gives them a direct list, which helps with:
- New sites, which have few links pointing to them.
- New pages you want found quickly.
- Pages that are hard to reach through your menus.
Google’s sitemap overview notes that small, well-linked sites may not strictly need one, but it rarely hurts. A sitemap doesn’t guarantee pages will be indexed or ranked.
Most WordPress sites create a sitemap automatically, either built in or through an SEO plugin. You can tell Google where it is by submitting it in Google Search Console and listing it in your robots.txt file.
What belongs in it
Only pages you want in search results: services, Answers, blog posts, key pages. Leave out thank-you pages, login pages, test pages and duplicates.
Example
A law office launches a new website. They submit the sitemap in Search Console. A few days later, the page indexing report shows Google has discovered the new pages, and lists two that couldn’t be indexed because of an old “noindex” setting, which they fix.
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