XML Sitemaps: How They Impact Your Rankings
Posted by Ash on August 19th, 2008 in SEO |
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The purpose of XML Sitemaps is to make sure the search engines know about every page you intend to have indexed as well as helping to set a preference on how frequently they should re-index each page based on your activity. For example: your home page may be updated each morning but your category pages may be updated approximately each month.
Keep in mind that XML Sitemaps are still missing from most websites and gives you a slight advantage over your competition; and when it comes to SEO you want every slight advantage you can find.
Your XML Sitemap should include every page you’d like to have indexed, up to 50,000 urls, and you can have multiple XML Sitemaps for sites with more urls. You can build these XML files yourself or if your site is smallish (500 urls or less) use a XML Sitemap Generator to make it easier for you.
You can also submit a Yahoo URL List in the format of one url per line in a text file named urllist.txt. Yahoo subscribes to XML Sitemaps so this isn’t necessary but doesn’t hurt either.
Your rankings will increase with every valuable SEO technique you use and XML Sitemaps are another way to ensure you get each of your pages indexed properly in the search engines. Because this file is hidden from view, it’s often forgot about by your competitors and is a great, simple way to give your site a little extra push.
BTW: if you’re running Wordpress, you should install and configure the Google XML Sitemaps plugin.
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9 Responses
I’ve read a few folks say “don’t use them” but when I do use them my sites get indexed in days sometimes.
Interesting. I’ve never heard that and my experience has been like yours; successful.
I have had experiences where adding a xml sitemap causes a shake up in your rankings but that’s usually temporary if you have an SEO strategy that is white hat and going somewhere. In the end, the sitemap provides so much more control that adding it to your strategy has become invaluable.
Hey Ash, the correct spelling for love is LOVE, not LUV.
Sarah’s last blog post… Toning Up
Um. I know. But I didn’t create the plugin. Blame them.
Hi, Ash, thanks for useful information about XML Sitemaps. And I dont understand people who say “don’t use them”, because it is a very good and simple way to increase your rankings.
I have been using the google xml sitemaps. I had few problems with it. It use to strip the category name.
One of must have plugins in my list
One advantage of the sitemap I found out recently was that it flagged up a DNS issue in webmaster tools. For that alone, it was worth having.
Thanks so much for this tip. I will take full advantage