How to Create an XML and HTML Sitemap - Creating a Sitemap

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How to create a sitemap? This question is asked by many novice web masters. In fact creating an XML and HTML sitemap very simple. The main thing is to understand the architecture of the structure and navigation of your site well. This way you can quickly create an HTML map for your site.

And for WordPress CMS users, it is enough to use one of the many SiteMap plugins. In this article, I will go into more detail about SiteMap and how to create one.

The content of the article:

• What is an XML and HTML sitemap
• How to create an HTML map yourself
• How to Create an XML Sitemap in WordPress
• Google Sitemaps
• XML Sitemap & Google News feeds
• How to Create a Sitemap with the Yoast SEO Plugin

What is an XML and HTML sitemap

In 1994-1995, it was decided that SiteMap should be implemented on every site. This contributes to the improvement of navigation on the site. Thanks to this innovative implementation, users could quickly find the information they needed on the site. Today, in times of innovation and technological breakthrough, the sitemap has become an integral part of every site by default.

Thanks to it, you can improve many indicators of the site. This applies to both technical website optimization and internal optimization. Facilitating users to quickly find this or that information on the site. And search robots get quick access to the pages of the site. This improves the visibility of the site for both search engines and site visitors.

Sitemap XML and HTML - what are the differences between them?

Both maps have a significant difference in the display format of the document itself. But at the same time, they are required to identically transfer the structure of the site, both to the search bot and to the visitor.

Site map in XML format:

• Provides the bots of all possible search engines with the structure of the site. Contains available URLs and metadata for each page.
• It has a clear hierarchical structure, in some cases divided by date.
• Increases site indexing speed.
• As a technical aspect of optimization, it significantly improves the visibility of the site.

Site map in HTML format:

• The ideal solution for additional navigation for the site.
• Direct access to all available site content for the visitor.
• Raises the authority of the site in the eyes of search engines (user-friendliness).
• Plus a page with direct links to all content. This is a great addition for fast indexing of all pages.

Both versions of the maps should be on your site. These are important stages of technical and internal SEO website optimization. Contributing to the effective scanning of the site and all its contents. Giving the visitor instant access to the structure of the site, and therefore a quick answer to his question.

How to create an HTML map yourself

It is very easy to do this and it is not necessary to name it as it should be. For example, on my site this page has the name “View All”. The main thing is to observe a certain hierarchy of pages. How to do:

1. Create a page with an appropriate title.
2. Distribute your sections (categories or directories) in the same way as on your site.
3. Then add URLs to them corresponding to sections, and so on.
4. Articles can be displayed as a separate list on the page.
5. All this is very similar to the huge menu of the site.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated about this. The main thing is to understand your site and its structure and want to make it the most convenient for people. The task of every webmaster is to create a user-friendly site. This is the main focus for today.

How to Create an XML Sitemap in WordPress

There are countless plugins that come to the rescue. This is the most convenient and fastest way to create a SiteMap for a website. Plugins, as a rule, instantly create the desired document format. At the same time, a clear hierarchical structure of the site is implemented. Metadata is automatically embedded for each page individually. As a result, you get the SiteMap of your site.

It is worth noting that using multiple plugins to create more than one sitemap can lead to conflicts between plugins. Let's take a look at a few popular plugins.

How to Create a Sitemap Using the Google XML Sitemaps Plugin

The most popular plugin for creating a sitemap. Easy to use, no difficulty in settings. Creates a structure broken down by dates of last modifications. It is possible to set priorities for each page or heading format. The plugin is called “Google XML Sitemaps”.

After installing and activating the plugin, you can proceed to the configuration. For this we go:

1. WordPress admin panel - Settings menu.
2. Then page "XML - Sitemap“.
3. The link to the sitemap is at the very top of the page.
4. Below are the settings, which you can change at your discretion.
5. Then click on “Save”, thereby applying your settings.

How to create a sitemap using the XML Sitemap & Google News feeds plugin

A good plugin is no less popular than the previous one. Allows you to create a sitemap with metadata for Google News feeds. It has a little more settings, which are additionally displayed on the post editing pages and other things.

• Allows you to specify the content of the page: blog, quote, humor, etc.
• Priority up to 0.9 - each individual page.
• Excluding a specific page from the sitemap.
• Specifying topics to display in Google News feeds.

This is the minimum set of possible settings for this plugin. After installation and configuration, all basic settings will be in the WordPress admin panel “Settings“-“Reading“. Other parameters can be specified in the post or page editor.

How to Create a Sitemap with the Yoast SEO Plugin

This plugin is especially popular in the SEO perspective. It has a huge number of settings applied automatically to all site content. One of the options is creating a SiteMap for a website. The plugin has over a million downloads and about 20547 maximum ratings. I also use this plugin and am completely satisfied with it.

After installing and activating the plugin, the “Seo” tab will appear in the main menu of the WordPress admin panel. Hover over it with the mouse and go to the “General” section. In the page that opens, go to the “Features” tab and activate the sitemap. After activation, another tab will appear with SiteMap settings and a link to it.

Finally

As you can see, there is nothing complicated, but the effect will be noticeable immediately. The presence of SiteMap on the site has a positive effect on the indexing of the site in search engines. In the following articles, I will tell you: how to add robots.txt to WordPress, how to make a 301 redirect and protect your site information from being copied. I wish you success.

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