How does Sitemaps Help Search Engines

Sitemaps aid search engines in effectively navigating your website by simplifying the process of locating all the pages and links. While a sitemap is not mandatory for a website, it can enhance search engine optimization.

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap notifies search engines that specific pages on your website are either new or have been updated and can be crawled. The sitemap protocol is made up of an XML file that contains your website URLs along with three additional optional details for each page:

How often the URL is updated.
The last time the URL was updated.
A priority of the URL relative to the other pages on the site.

Sitemaps assist in making sure that all new and hard-to-find pages are indexed promptly and thoroughly, and they are especially beneficial for websites that pose challenges for search engines to crawl and index efficiently. Your website gains advantages from utilizing a sitemap if it:

Is modified frequently.
Uses Javascript of Flash® for navigation or content display.
Contains a large database or archive of pages that may be accessible only through a search function.

Where do I put the Sitemap?

Ensure that your sitemap is located in the root or main directory of your web server.

Can I exclude pages from my Sitemap?

You have the option to omit certain pages from your website’s sitemap. Go to the Search Engine Visibility Sitemap section, select the pages you’d like to exclude, and then click Exclude Selected.

Create a Sitemap in WordPress

You can follow these steps to ensure your WordPress website includes a sitemap that can enhance your SEO ranking.

Numerous plugins are available for this purpose, and we will focus on installing the Yoast SEO plugin. If you opt for a different plugin, make sure to select one that is currently being actively updated.