{"id":46715,"date":"2021-05-28T11:57:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T10:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clickintelligence.co.uk\/?p=46715"},"modified":"2023-08-03T08:04:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T07:04:38","slug":"how-to-create-a-xml-sitemap-for-a-new-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-uk.clickintelligence.com\/us\/how-to-create-a-xml-sitemap-for-a-new-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create A XML Sitemap For A New Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating a new website for a brand or business is not something that happens overnight and certainly isn\u2019t something that can be rushed. Many different things need to be considered before you even draft your initial design, such as working out your theme, pages that need to be included, fonts, and a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

One such thing that needs to be done early, preferably before you launch your website, is to create a robust XML sitemap. An XML sitemap is just one of the many on-page SEO techniques you can implement to help boost your website\u2019s ranking on search engines such as Google. Unlike many advanced SEO practices, this isn\u2019t too difficult to do and can be completed within twenty minutes.<\/p>\n

So What Is A XML Sitemap?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Without trying to sound condescending, a sitemap is exactly what it sounds like it is: a map of your website. In its simplest form, an XML sitemap is just a list of all the URLs that make up your domain and how they link together. It efficiently maps out how the website is structure, which is important for SEO.<\/p>\n

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\nWhat\u2019s The Point Of It? <\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s important to know that an XML sitemap is not for the benefit of a user but is instead meant to be implemented to help Google better understand your website. All search engines, especially the big ones like Google and Bing, use crawlers to go through websites and gather the information stored on indexes. It\u2019s these indexes that help Google better understand where your website should rank and on what specific keywords. If Google can\u2019t understand your website, then you\u2019re going to rank poorly.<\/p>\n

This is the main purpose of an XML sitemap. It gives crawlers an easy way to see what\u2019s on your website, effectively working as a table of contents. Creating a good XML sitemap can instantly improve your ranking, so it\u2019s definitely something that is worth doing.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a good sitemap can do other things too. As well as aiding with indexing, these maps can also display updates to a page as well as the importance a page has on a website, which can be very helpful in proving that your website is not using duplicate content.<\/p>\n

How To Create XML Sitemap For Website<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are many ways to create a sitemap, such as using various plugins like Yoast for websites built on WordPress, but the industry de facto way of creating one is through using software called Screaming Frog.<\/p>\n

This software is free to use and can be used to make sitemaps of websites that have up to 500 pages, and it doesn\u2019t have to be a website that you own. It means you can create a sitemap of your competitors to see what they\u2019re doing well and not so well, which can influence your approach.<\/p>\n

To create an XML sitemap on Screaming Frog, once you\u2019ve downloaded the software, all you need to do is the following:<\/p>\n

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  1. Type your URL into the field right at the top of the page and then click start. This will begin the crawling process and, depending on the size of your website, might take a few minutes to a couple of hours to complete.<\/li>\n
  2. Once it\u2019s done, you then need to click \u2018sitemaps\u2019 in the menu bar and then the dropdown option \u2018create XML Sitemap.\u2019<\/li>\n
  3. You then need to select the types of pages that you want to feature in your sitemap. This can be really intimidating if you don\u2019t know what the options presented to you mean. If you\u2019re unsure, it\u2019s best to leave all these options unchecked, although it might be worth including any PDFs that feature in your website, providing that they\u2019re useful for customers. It\u2019s also a good idea to click the image tab and include them in your sitemap too.<\/li>\n
  4. Once you\u2019ve selected everything you want to include, all you have to do is save your sitemap, and congratulations, you\u2019ve finished generating a sitemap for a website!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    From here, you then need to upload this file to your website via FTP. Unfortunately, there\u2019s no universal way to do this, as every website development software and CMS is different, so it\u2019s worth checking with a developer to see what\u2019s best for you. However, having your sitemap on your website isn\u2019t the end, as there\u2019s still a vital step that needs to be taken: submitting the XML sitemap to Google.<\/p>\n

    In order to do this, you need to have Google Search Console connected to your website. To learn how to do this and other important SEO techniques, check out our Intelligence Hub<\/a>. Once it\u2019s connected, go to the search console and select your website. From the dashboard, you then need to click \u2018sitemap.\u2019 This will lead you to a page where you can add a new sitemap, and from here, you simply need to enter the URL that it was saved on. It should end in .xml as it\u2019s an XML file.<\/p>\n

    Once that\u2019s done, your XML sitemap should be all set, ready to go, and improve your SEO rankings. If done correctly, you should see improvements in your performance, and when used in conjunction with other SEO tactics, your website has more potential to be noticed and seen in the right SERPs.<\/p>\n

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