The Role of XML Sitemaps in Technical SEO
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, we like to think of Technical SEO as the SEO engine that keeps it all running. That is because it refers to how search engines find and index your website.
The XML sitemap plays a crucial role in the backend of organic search. Here is what you need to know about the role of XML sitemaps in technical SEO.
What is an XML Sitemap?
In essence, the XML Sitemap is the roadmap to your website, acting like a directory of what pages exist on the website. The XML (which stands for Extensible Markup Language) gives search engines important information about the structure and content of a website by listing its URLs. This file facilitates more efficient page indexing and crawling by search engines.
This website blueprint will list how each page is related to each other. For example, the XML sitemap will contain metadata like the priority of URLs, change frequency, and last changed date. Because of this structured approach, search engines can prioritize crawling and comprehend how your site is organized.
Example of an XML Sitemap
Here is a simple example of what an XML sitemap might look like:
Here is a working example from our own website:
What Attributes Does a Sitemap Contain?
As you can see, there is a lot of meta information to be found in sitemap examples. Here are some of the most of th
e most common things that are found in a sitemap:
URL: The address of the page is the most fundamental component. Each URL element points to a specific page on your site.
Last Modified Date: This metadata indicates when the page was last updated, helping search engines determine how frequently they should revisit it.
Change Frequency: This indicates how often the content on the page is likely to change, such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
Priority: This value ranges from 0.0 to 1.0 and helps search engines understand the relative importance of the page compared to others on the site.
In addition, to the above, the sitemap can also contain relevant information about images and videos. To improve image search optimization, for example, picture sitemaps offer URLs of the images connected to the page. Video sitemaps can contain information such as durations, titles, and descriptions, which makes multimedia material easier for search engines to comprehend and index.
What Does a Sitemap Do For Indexing and Crawling?
As mentioned, the effectiveness of search engine crawling and indexing is greatly increased by XML sitemaps. They offer an organized map of your website, which facilitates search engines in finding recently added or modified pages.
Specifically, they:
Enhance Crawling Efficiency
An XML sitemap is quite helpful for big websites with lots of pages. It makes sure that deep pages are found and crawled, which is something search engines can miss otherwise.
Sitemaps are also beneficial for new websites as because they facilitate faster content discovery by search engines. Search engines may revisit, and re-crawl updated pages more frequently when they see dynamic websites with regularly updated material.
Improve Indexing
Sitemaps guarantee that search engines index the vital pages on your website by detailing all significant URLs. Improved visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) may arise from this.
To keep search results current, search engines must be informed of updates and additions to your website through an updated sitemap, which also encourages them to index new information more quickly.
Best Practices for Creating and Managing XML Sitemaps
When creating and managing an effective XML Sitemap, here are some best practices to consider:
Keep it Simple and Updated
Think about dividing the sitemap into several files for websites with a lot of URLs. This maintains the sitemap files under the suggested size limitations and aids in the efficient use of the crawl budget. Search engines can effectively find and scan every section of the website by using sitemap index files to reference multiple sitemaps.
Submit to Search Engines
You can make sure search engines like Google and Bing are aware of your sitemap and can utilize it to more effectively crawl your website by submitting it to them. Sitemap submission and management are made possible by tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, which also provide information on the state of the maps and any issues that may need to be fixed.
Use Multiple Sitemaps for Large Sites
Think about dividing the sitemap into several files for websites with a lot of URLs. This maintains the sitemap files under the suggested size limitations and aids in the efficient use of the crawl budget.
Search engines can effectively find and scan every section of the website by using sitemap index files to reference multiple sitemaps.
Include Only Canonical URLs
To prevent problems with duplication, make sure that the sitemap only contains the canonical versions of your URLs. Canonical URLs improve overall SEO performance by reducing confusion brought on by duplicate material and assisting in the consolidation of ranking signals.
Avoiding Other Sitemap Mistakes
Remember to also avoid mistakes like including non-indexable pages, such as any page that has been blocked by the robots.txt file or set to a noindex as these can waste a crawl budget unnecessarily.
If the sitemap isn't updated frequently, search engines can overlook updated or new content. Furthermore, mobile search ranking may suffer if sites with distinct mobile URLs neglect to update their mobile sitemaps.
How to Find Out if a Website Has a Sitemap
Checking for an XML Sitemap is a pretty straightforward process. Here are three unique ways to check:
Manual Check: Enter https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xmlin in the browser.
Google Search Console: If you have access, navigate to the "Sitemaps" section under "Index" to see submitted sitemaps.
Site Audit Tools: Use SEO tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush to check for sitemaps.
When we conduct SEO audits we like to perform a manual check and then utilize Google Search Console should there be any indexing issues.
If you are ever curious to see how well your XML Sitemap is set up, or if there may be something wrong, remember we are always here to help!