WordPress Sitemap: What They Are And How to Create Them

Creating a WordPress sitemap is one of the best ways to optimize a WordPress website for SEO. A sitemap helps website visitors and search engine bots better understand the structure of a site.

In this article, we’ll explore everything, including:

• What are WordPress sitemaps?
• Difference between XML vs HTML Sitemaps
• Why are they important for WordPress websites?
• How to create a sitemap in WordPress?
• How to submit a WordPress XML sitemap to search engines?
• And more

Without further ado, let’s get started.

What Is a WordPress Sitemap?

A WordPress sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of all the URLs you want search engines to index.

The main purpose of an XML sitemap is to help search engines in crawling your website more efficiently.

Here’s how it looks:

WordPress provides a basic sitemap for your website by default, starting with version 5.5. You just need to include “/wp-sitemap.xml” at the end of your website’s address. Like this:

https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-sitemap.xml

In addition, whenever you publish or update a page, the WordPress sitemap URL also updates

However, the default XML sitemap offers limitless functionality. That’s why many WordPress website owners use a plugin to create a sitemap.

WordPress XML vs HTML Sitemaps: What’s the Difference?

As XML sitemaps are created for search engines rather than users, visitors to your site will not see them.

HTML sitemaps, on the other hand, are intended for your website visitors. They are webpages that display a hierarchical list of your website’s selected pages.

Consider them a table of contents for your website, helping visitors in navigating its content.

Here’s how a typical HTML sitemap looks:

Why Are Sitemaps Important for WordPress Sites?

Sitemaps are extremely important in terms of search engine optimization (SEO).

Simply uploading a sitemap file will not affect your search rankings. However, if a page on your site is not indexed, a sitemap will notify search engines about that page.

Sitemaps are highly essential when starting a blog or building a new website, as most new sites lack backlinks. This makes it difficult for search engines to discover all of your content.

This is why search engines such as Google and Bing allow new website owners to submit sitemaps using their webmaster tools. This helps their search engine bots easily recognize and index your content (more on that later).

That said, let’s look into how to create an XML sitemap in WordPress.

How to Create a WordPress XML Sitemap Using Plugin

You may use a WordPress sitemap plugin to create your sitemap. There are two primary types of plugins for this:

• All-in-one SEO plugins
• Specialized sitemap plugins

We’ll show you how to create a sitemap in WordPress for both.

Generating a Sitemap with the Rank Math SEO Plugin

Rank Math SEO is a popular WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your website for higher search engine rankings.

It is a feature-rich WordPress plugin that includes the ability to generate a WordPress sitemap to help search engines index your website more effectively.

Furthermore, it can help you in optimizing your website for essential elements like as keywords, metatags, and social media signals.

Learn more in our detailed Rank Math review.

Get Rank Math

There are several reasons why you should use Rank Math SEO for your sitemap. Some of the most important are:

• It automatically creates your WordPress XML sitemap.
• Supports multiple sitemap formats, including XML, HTML, and image sitemaps.
• You can exclude specific pages or posts from the sitemap easily.
• Rank Math supports media sitemaps, enhancing content discoverability.
• It automatically submits your sitemap to Google Search Console.
• The plugin provides an intuitive, user-friendly interface for sitemap management.
• Most sitemap features are available in the free version of Rank Math.

Once you install and activate the Rank Math SEO plugin, go to Rank Math » Sitemap Settings. For more, see our detailed guide on how to install WordPress plugins.

By default, Rank Math will enable the sitemap functionality for you and replace the default WordPress sitemaps.

You can click on the top-showing sitemap URL on the General tab to preview it to see what it looks like.

You may also see your sitemap by adding sitemap.xml to your website’s URL like this:

https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Generating a Sitemap with the ‘XML Sitemap Generator for Google’ Plugin

The XML Sitemap Generator for Google plugin is a free and simple way to generate an XML sitemap for your WordPress site.

When you install the plugin, it generates the sitemap.

The settings can be found under Settings » XML-Sitemap.

You’ll see many options here. If you are unsure about them, you do not need to make any changes. The default settings will be enough in most cases.

To see your sitemap, choose the link at the top of the plugin’s dashboard (above the settings).

It will be found at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.

It will look like this:

How to Submit WordPress XML Sitemap to Search Engines?

Once your sitemap is ready, submit it to Google and Bing. While it is not necessary, it can help search engine bots find and crawl your website faster.

Submitting Your XML Sitemap to Google

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free Google SEO tool that allows you to monitor and manage your site visibility in Google search results.

To start, simply login to your Google Search Console account.

If you don’t have an account yet, follow our Google Search Console guide.

Once you set GSC, to submit your sitemap, go to the Sitemaps tab. You’ll find it under the Indexing section of the left menu.

There, you can enter your sitemap’s URL and click Submit.

Google may take several days (or even longer) to process your sitemap. Once indexed, the Sitemap report should display a green Success status.

Submitting Your XML Sitemap to Bing

Like Google Search Console, Bing provides Bing Webmaster Tools to help you monitor your website’s performance in the Bing search engine.

Log in to your Bing Webmasters Tools.

Next, add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools by importing your site from GSC or entering the URL manually and verifying your domain name ownership.

Once verified, go to the Sitemaps tab from the left sidebar menu. Then, click on the Submit sitemap button.

Now, enter the URL of your sitemap and click Submit.

Wait a couple of days for Bing to process your sitemap. Once indexed, you will see a Success status.

Start Using Sitemaps for WordPress Today

An XML sitemap is something that every WordPress website needs. While it will not rocket your site to the top of the SERPs, it is an excellent way to get your site crawled faster and more thoroughly.

The simplest way to create an XML sitemap on WordPress is to use a plugin like Rank Math but there are plenty of other plugins available to help you.

Once you’ve created your sitemap, you should submit it to Google Search Console or Bing to learn more about how Google indexes your site.

That’s it from this article.

For more, check out these other helpful resources:

• Rank Math vs Yoast SEO Comparison: Which One is Better?
• 12 Best SEO Tools for Small Businesses
• 23 Proven Ways to Increase Your Website Traffic for Free

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