Search Engine Optimization Tutorial

Using an XML Site Map On Your Site



An XML sitemap is file that uses the XML markup language. It lists all pages on a site that are available for crawling by search engines. Very few websites need an XML sitemap, and there is no need to submit one to Google unless your site is one of these special sites. They include:

  1. Sites which Google may have difficulty crawling due to the use of Flash (bad idea), JavaScript menus, or other technical issue.
  2. Very large sites such as e-commerce stores with 1,000 or more pages. You can use a sitemap to tell Google about pages that change frequently.
You don't have to create this file yourself. A sitemap.xml file may be generated by an on-line service that crawls your site, finds pages, and writes the required file. For example: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

Used properly, the sitemap contains additional information about each page-when the page was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is relative to other pages on the site. Search engines can use this information to more intelligently crawl the site.

After the sitemap is generated, it should be put in the root folder of your website (the same folder that your home page is in.) Then, create a free Google Webmaster account, and notify Google that you have created an XML site map.

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