XML Sitemaps: An Important Webmasters’ Resource

Ever since its inception back in 2005, XML sitemaps have helped current search engines to effectively index and understand websites, and their content better. Unfortunately, some webmasters still overlook this crucial file, with some websites still running without it, not because the owners don’t know how to create a sitemap, but because they don’t understand the worth. Though initially created by Google, the search engines giant later abandoned its baby and joined hands with other companies to design the XML standard, replacing the Google XML standard. This new standards is supported by Yahoo, Google, Bing, and other search engines.

The dynamic nature of the web calls for fast changing of the sitemaps as well. Search engines rely on the new XML standards to clearly understand the best way to completely index and crawl websites. Things have even gotten better; we now have a series of sitemap generators that simplifies the whole process. No one has a reason to lack a sitemap today, whether you know how to create a sitemap or not.

Basically, an XML sitemap is only but an XML file containing URLS and information about these URLs that is inserted into a website’s directory. A website can have more than one sitemap inserted in several directories. For the search engines need to simply identify sitemaps on a website, the XML file’s locations are clearly specified at the base of a website’s robots.txt file.

XML sitemaps are more ideal for websites whose pages are constantly updated or in cases where some pages are considered more critical than others. It is paramount that the date when a page was last updated be included in the sitemap as well as the frequency in which the page is changed and the priority. Frequency of modification can be hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually while the priority is based on a value from zero to 1, but the default is 0.5.

In as much as writing all this information can be boring, it is very easy especially if you know how to create a sitemap. You can always seek the help of a sitemap generator like DYNO Mapper to trim down on the quantity of work because the program will take care of the bulk of the work. for you There are many websites offering this important service at a small fee while others are free for all, but it is worth every penny you spend.

The main limitation of using free sitemap creators is that, most of them have a cap on the number of pages, making this option a reserve for websites with very few pages. Therefore, if your site has thousands of pages, a professional sitemap generator is highly recommended

In as much as some webmasters still overlook the importance of sitemaps, the fact is that, it is a crucial resource that search engines rely on to clearly understand content for various websites. The complexity of sitemaps will always vary based on the site’s size and requirements. All in all, it is a necessity that should never be ignored at all costs. If you don't know how to create sitemaps, signup for the DYNO Mapper sitemap generator for a free 14 day trial.