Including XML Sitemaps for your website
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs for a website, along with additional metadata about each URL (such as when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is relative to other URLs in the site). XML sitemaps are used to help search engines discover and crawl the pages on a website.
To use an XML sitemap, you will need to create a file that lists all of the URLs on your website in a specific format. There are several tools available online that can help you generate an XML sitemap, or you can create one manually by following the guidelines provided by search engines like Google. Once you have created the XML sitemap, you will need to upload it to your website and submit it to search engines through their webmaster tools or through the sitemap submission feature in the XML sitemap.
We must create and include sitemaps into our website or application. After we create the XML file, we must let the search engine to see our maps and analyze them, It will be possible to have some error but Google can inform us about broken links, URL that returns 404, redirects etc.
Sitemaps Types
- XML sitemap, the generic and essential sitemap.
- Google News Sitemap are good only if your website has been added to Google News.
- Images sitemap.
- Sitemap for the users: a page in your website where you list the main sections and pages. This lets the users have an orientation on your website or application.
Add Sitemaps to the search engines
- Google: any sitemap can be added using Google Seach Console (Google Webmaster Tools). Create a profile for your domain and add every map in the dedicated section.
- Yahoo now uses moved the webmaster tool section to the Bing Webmaster Tool admin area. Create your profile, account or login. To add a new website and add a sitemap will be very easy. Follow the steps and remember to verify your site.
The Google News Sitemap
You can ask Google to add your website to Google News. You have to answer some simple questions about your website and wait for the Google team response,
If your website will be added, you can create and include the sitemap to your website.
Add the sitemap using the Google Search Console in the same way you added the other maps.
Images sitemaps
An image sitemap is similar to an XML sitemap, but it specifically lists the images on a website rather than the URLs. Image sitemaps can be used to help search engines discover and index images on a website, which can improve the visibility of those images in search results. To create an image sitemap, you will need to list the URLs for each image on your website in a specific format, along with any relevant metadata. As with an XML sitemap, you will need to upload the image sitemap to your website and submit it to search engines through their webmaster tools or through the sitemap submission feature in the image sitemap.
You can also add an image sitemap for your website. This particular map can be generated and it helps the search engines to have more informations from your static images.