Sitemaps
What are sitemaps?
Sitemaps are files containing links to site pages or media. The most common type of sitemap is an XML sitemap, which can optionally contain link and media attributes. However, Google Search also accepts text sitemaps, which only contain a list of URLs in plaintext.
Why sitemaps matter for SEO
Sitemaps are helpful for SEO because they can inform search engines of new and updated pages and media. They are especially beneficial for buried or orphaned pages that are difficult for search engine bots to discover.
Sitemap tips
- Sitemaps aren’t required for page and media discovery. However, they may be necessary for sites with millions of pages or pages that are buried or orphaned.
- Google Search only needs the URL in sitemaps for pages. The last modified timestamp can be included, but they will ignore it if they don’t detect meaningful changes to the page or media each time the timestamp is updated.
- Sitemaps for images, news, and videos require additional tags.
- The free Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress automatically creates XML sitemaps.
Sitemap resources
- Google’s general sitemap guidelines
- Google’s image sitemap guidelines
- Google’s news sitemap guidelines
- Google’s video sitemap guidelines
- XML sitemaps protocol
Written by Jon Henshaw, published on , and last updated on .