WordPress Tutorial about what is wordpress sitemap.xml and video guide how to create or set it up using WordPress google sitemap generator plugin.
After I have posted about what the must have plugins for your wordpress, today we are going to generate sitemap.xml for your blog with a plugin. This tutorial i made with wordpress 2.9.2 but you can of course, apply it to wordpress 3.0 since it is out already.
What is wordpress sitemap.xml?
It is a xml file that will be created by google sitemap generator plugin once you install and activate it to help Search engines to index your blog fastly and easily. It’s basically telling those search engines, to index your posts whenever you create and update them.
How to create wordpress sitemap.xml?
Here are the easy steps:
1. Type in “google xml” in Admin page/plugins/new/search box.
2. Install google sitemap generator from Arne Brachhold.
3. Once you activate it, navigate to Settings/XML-Sitemap.
4. Now it will say, you need to generate it. Click “Click here” button to create your first sitemap.xml file for your wordpress blog. Once you click that button, check your sitemap.xml. It has to be in: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
5. Basically you don’t need to change anything except these options:
- Tick notify yahoo whenever you update your blog. For this, you need to create a key. Click “Request one here!” button if you don’t have one, and follow the instruction. Once you have the key, paste the key in the box.
- Tick include categories and include archives if you want search engines to index them.
- Set the priority settings as following image.
That’s it, you now help search engines to index your site easier, so that your visitors will find your blog:). See demo of my sitemap.xml.
Video:
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
This is same plugin that I use on my blog as well and I like it, get lots of traffic with sitemaps :)
@Kharim, Yes, most of us, bloggers use sitemap xml generator :D eventhough still newbie friends out there not using this plugin yet.
I hope this post can be useful for others, thanks for commenting Kharim :D
I, personally prefer to use Sitemap Writer Pro program over other plugins or programs.
@April Forshee, Thanks for the alternative :)
I have checked in Google, and it is not free. And most of us of course prefer the free one, if it also works fine.
Thanks for the comment.
@Dina,
Hey Dina, thanks for replying. Yes its free, but you know it guarantess the quality… I has so may problems with free and online stuf, I was sick from all of them… I decided to spend some money, but to save my nerves, especially I got the program with 35% disscount coupon.
@April Forshee, I meant Not free :)) sorry, misspelled.
Very nice video ! I didn’t know about sitemap at all, and I’ve been using WordPress for four months. I guess I was completely in the darkness. Luckily your tutorial enlightened me ; your instructions were very clear and easy to follow.
@Pham-Pham, I have noticed lots of people who are using wordpress still don’t use sitemap.xml :)
Sitemap.xml is very good idea to help google or other SE indexing your site, don’t forget to submit your sitemap.xml to search engines, will post the tutorial the next days, thanks for coming and commenting :)
Emm,usefully,i think i need more information about it .And i will pay more attention for it.Thanx more!
Hi Dina,
I am very new to wordpress and I am in the process of setting-up my first blog and one of the plugins I have down loaded is Google XML Sitemaps. I have an installation problem that I am not sure if you can help me with and I have not been able to view your video as yet.
In the installation instruction of this plugin it state that: “Use your favorite FTP program to create two files in wordpress named sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz and make them writable via CHMOD 666″.
From your information above I can now see how the sitemap.xml is created but how do you create the sitemap.xml.gz file the instructions have asked for??
Thanking you in advance,
Glen
@Glen, Hey there.
Once you install Google XML sitemaps plugin, the easiest is you install it through dashboard, type google xml sitemap in the plugin/search box, and you will find it, created by Arne.
Once you install and activate it, leave the options by default and change a few stuff as tutorial above.
It will then generate sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz by default, you dont need to do anything. (see the default settings for sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz image below- it should be checked)
I wonder why you can’t view my video? because i can view it very well.
Thank for your guide. I’m lookinng sitemap gz and didn’t realise inside Google Xml site generator got that features
You’re welcome, glad it was useful.
Sir i have problem with my site map.When i install google xml sitemap plugin i found like this result…..
Google was successfully notified about changes.
Bing was successfully notified about changes.
There was a problem while notifying Ask.com. View result
The building process took about 20.53 seconds to complete and used 17.75 MB of memory.
My sitemap was not working plz solve it.
I am using Wordpress and Thesis theme
Plz check once tell me whats the exact problem in my website sitemap plugin
Hey Uma,
I have checked your sitemap and it is all well.
Cheers.
Thanks for the instructions Kimi – I have now been able to create my own xml (something that sounded quite scary and which I have been putting off for a while :-) The only thing I didn’t manage yet was getting the Yahoo Application ID – that’s complicated.
Anyway, thanks again.
Neil
Neil,
It is very easy, you can go to this page and click “My projects” the rest will be self-explanatory.
https://developer.apps.yahoo.com/wsregapp/
Kimi.
Hi Dina,
This video keeps stopping and then does not go beyond a certain point. It does not finish.
Sanjiv,
Thanks so much for this notification :-)
I have just tried it, and works well, probably because of your connection.
I am in Germany and can view the video well, however you can try this link to view it on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/12698790
Kind regards,
Kimi.
Can you tell me why we need both sitemap.xml & sitemap.xml.gz please?
Hi Paul,
sitemap.xml.gz is actually the compressed version of sitemap.xml, it is very useful if our sitemap.xml is very big in size.
Some search engines read sitemap.xml.gz. That’s what I know of.
I hope this helps.
Thank You…
I had it setup on my blog already, but I don’t think the settings I had were really as good as these…
Hi, Dina,
first thank you for so usefull posts. Even I can understand your tutorials :)
I installed sitemap plugin that you recomanded, build new page with name “sitemap”, but it is empty. I want to show my sitemap in this page, like you did in this site. How?
And second: I can’t find in your site the tutorial with two menus, as you did in the top of your site. You should really put the search function on.
Thank you in advance for your reply, dan.
Hi Dan,
Did you install sitemap.xml generator plugin or another plugin?
Sitemap.xml generator plugin will only generate .xml sitemap file, and not in a page. If you want to create a sitemap page, try Dagon sitemap generator plugin.
I did add some codes in this blog, which I may post the tutorial sometimes in the future, please feel free to subscribe if you want to.
I have the search function in my sidebar :-)
To add another menu on the top, also need to add code in the header area.
I hope this helps a bit.
Kimi.
I am so grateful to you as I have able to put site map in my word press blog by this post.
Hi Kimi
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I have been able to successfully set up Sitemap.xml on my blog. Thanks again
Hi Nivritee!
Most welcome, I am glad you have made it! Happy blogging :)
Kind regards,
Kimi.
Thanks Man .
@April Forshee, Yes, you are right, some free stuff sometimes sucks, but some are just fine.
That’s great if you have 35% coupon, thanks for the comment :D