{"id":142891,"date":"2021-01-27T11:49:22","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T11:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=142891"},"modified":"2021-01-27T11:50:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T11:50:55","slug":"how-to-create-an-xml-sitemap-and-submit-it-to-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/01\/27\/how-to-create-an-xml-sitemap-and-submit-it-to-google\/","title":{"rendered":"How to create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A sitemap is one of the technical sides of SEO.<\/li>\n<li>A sitemap doesn\u2019t boost your SEO traffic but helps search engines index your web pages faster.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s very easy to create an XML sitemap and doesn\u2019t require any coding knowledge.<\/li>\n<li>Once a sitemap is created, you need to submit it to Google.<\/li>\n<li>Through your Google Search Console dashboard, you can see detailed index coverage reports and fix any technical errors if present.<\/li>\n<li>Founder of WPMyWeb.com, Jyoti Ray guides you through the process of creating an XML sitemap using different tools and details on how you can fix existing sitemap errors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>When it comes to SEO, there are over hundreds of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/22\/1000-ranking-factors-how-google-finds-signals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google ranking factors<\/a> you need to master as well as execute them in order to increase your <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/20\/easy-seo-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">search engine visibility<\/a>. Believe me, it\u2019s lots of work &#8211; generating content ideas, keyword researching, creating high-quality content, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/12\/10\/six-strategies-guaranteed-to-help-you-build-more-backlinks-to-your-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">building backlinks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/04\/06\/local-seo-how-to-make-a-website-audit-in-30-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">auditing your website<\/a>, etc. And working on each of the techniques is time-consuming and requires lots of effort. Fortunately, there are some SEO techniques that are easier to perform but have a huge impact on SEO. One of them is &#8211; submitting an XML sitemap to Google.<\/p>\n<p>Although a sitemap is one of the parts of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/04\/technical-seo-six-areas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">technical SEO<\/a>\u201d, it doesn\u2019t require any technical knowledge, and most importantly, it\u2019s free and easier to create.<\/p>\n<p>Even, in just 10-15 minutes, you can create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google.<\/p>\n<p>So, in this article, we will first explain what is an XML sitemap, why do you need a sitemap, and then show you how to create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google. Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n<h2>What is an XML sitemap?<\/h2>\n<p>A sitemap is a list of a website\u2019s URLs. It\u2019s a roadmap of a website that tells Google what information is available and where to find it.\u00a0A sitemap contains important information about each URL, such as &#8211; when a post or page was last updated, how often do you change, etc.<\/p>\n<p>The best part of a sitemap is that you can specify what pages, posts, or media files to be indexed by search engines crawlers.<\/p>\n<p>Sitemaps are specially written for <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2016\/02\/25\/say-goodbye-to-google-14-alternative-search-engines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">search engines<\/a>, not for humans. So, it would be hard for us to understand if not seen before.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how an XML sitemap looks:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142902\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/XML-Sitemap-Sample.png\" alt=\"XML sitemap example\" width=\"483\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/XML-Sitemap-Sample.png 483w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/XML-Sitemap-Sample-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/XML-Sitemap-Sample-120x90.png 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 483px) 100vw, 483px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitemaps.org\/protocol.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Why do you need a sitemap?<\/h2>\n<p>Search engines use crawlers to find and index all the information on the web. While crawling a page, they use both internal and external links to discover new content.<\/p>\n<p>However, if a new webpage hasn\u2019t linked from other known pages, crawlers find it difficult to discover new pages on a website, and as a result, the indexing process gets delayed.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where a sitemap comes.<\/p>\n<p>A sitemap doesn\u2019t only contain a bunch of valuable links but also helps Search Engine crawlers to discover new information faster.<\/p>\n<p>Once you submit your XML sitemap file to Google, you can see that all new posts\/pages you are publishing are available somewhere on Google search results (after a couple of minutes). It\u2019s because of the sitemap file.<\/p>\n<h3>When do you need to use a sitemap?<\/h3>\n<p>Not everyone needs a sitemap. Google has its own complex algorithm to schedule crawling.<\/p>\n<p>Google officially <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/advanced\/sitemaps\/overview?hl=en&amp;visit_id=637465463713148602-2892740265&amp;rd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated<\/a> when a webmaster needs a sitemap:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Your website is really large<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Your website is brand new and has few external links pointing to it<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">You don\u2019t build internal links<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, in most cases, having a sitemap could be beneficial in a few ways.<\/p>\n<p>Now I know the basics of a sitemap, let\u2019s see how to create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google.<\/p>\n<h2>How to create an XML sitemap<\/h2>\n<p>Creating a sitemap is very simple. You can use an online tool to generate an XML sitemap and for WordPress sites, there are plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/02\/08\/17-top-plugins-extensions-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">plugins<\/a> available.<\/p>\n<p>I will show both of them.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Creating a sitemap in WordPress<\/h3>\n<p>More than <a href=\"https:\/\/w3techs.com\/technologies\/history_overview\/content_management\/all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">35%<\/a> of the total websites are powered by WordPress.<\/p>\n<p>If you run a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpmyweb.com\/how-to\/start-wordpress-blog-with-hostgator.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordPress site<\/a>, you can create a sitemap using a plugin.<\/p>\n<p>There are several WordPress plugins available that allow you to create an XML sitemap, such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math SEO, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Method 1, Create a sitemap using Yoast SEO<\/p>\n<p>Yoast is one of the best <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/04\/13\/14-essential-wordpress-plugins-to-improve-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SEO plugins<\/a> for WordPress. Yoast plugin helps you to optimize your page titles, meta descriptions, SEO analysis, etc.<\/p>\n<p>It also has an option to create an XML sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>If you are not using the Yoast SEO plugin, download and install it from the WordPress plugin directory.<\/p>\n<h4>Follow the steps below<\/h4>\n<p>From your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins &gt; Add New and search for \u201cYoast SEO\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142904\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO.png\" alt=\"Creating an XML sitemap using the Yoast plugin\" width=\"596\" height=\"271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO.png 596w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO-300x136.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once activated, go to SEO &gt; General &gt; Features. Click on the Question icon to reveal the sitemap URL.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142903\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO-Sitemap-.png\" alt=\"Yoast SEO Sitemap\" width=\"784\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO-Sitemap-.png 784w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO-Sitemap--300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Yoast-SEO-Sitemap--768x312.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Method two &#8211; Creating a sitemap using Rank Math SEO<\/h4>\n<p>If you are using the Rankmath SEO plugin, you can generate a sitemap like the way you created using the Yoast SEO plugin.<\/p>\n<p>But, I prefer using the Rank Math plugin because it gives more advanced options that are missing in Yoast SEO.<\/p>\n<p>First, log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins &gt; Add New.<\/p>\n<p>Search for \u201cRank Math\u201d and install it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142896\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math.png\" alt=\"Rank Math\" width=\"557\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math.png 557w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math-300x154.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Upon activation, go to Rank Math &gt; sitemap Settings.<\/p>\n<p>From there, you can set how many links you want per sitemap page, exclude URLs, images in posts, etc.<\/p>\n<p>At the top, you can see your sitemap URL which looks like:<\/p>\n<p>\u201chttps:\/\/www.website.com\/sitemap_index.xml\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142895\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math-Sitemap.png\" alt=\"Rank Math Sitemap\" width=\"715\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math-Sitemap.png 715w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Rank-Math-Sitemap-300x150.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now, you are ready to submit to Google Search Console.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Creating a sitemap without a CMS<\/h3>\n<p>If you are not using any CMS, you can still generate a sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>For this case, Screaming Frog would be a great option. Screaming Frog is a desktop-based program (available on Windows &amp; Mac) that crawls your website. The software comes both in free and premium versions.<\/p>\n<p>If your site has less than 500 URLs, you can start using the free version of Screaming Frog to generate a sitemap.<\/p>\n<h4>Follow the steps given below<\/h4>\n<p>Once downloaded and installed, open the software on your computer.<\/p>\n<p>At the top of the screen, enter your website URL and click on Start.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142898\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog.png\" alt=\"Using Screaming Frog for creating an XML sitemap\" width=\"888\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog.png 888w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog-300x108.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog-768x276.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 888px) 100vw, 888px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It will start crawling your site and may take a few minutes to finish.<\/p>\n<p>Once the crawl is finished, take a look at what pages are being crawled.<\/p>\n<p>If the number is below 500, then you are good to go.<\/p>\n<p>From the top of the menu section, click on sitemap &gt; XML sitemaps.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142897\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog-Sitemap.png\" alt=\"Screaming Frog Sitemap\" width=\"573\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog-Sitemap.png 573w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screaming-Frog-Sitemap-300x235.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can also include or exclude any options that you want in your sitemap file, such as Noindex pages, last modified date, Paginated URLs, PDFs, Images, etc.<\/p>\n<p>I recommend keeping this default, however, you are free to make any modifications.<\/p>\n<p>Once done, hit on the Export button and save the file on your computer.<\/p>\n<p>Your XML sitemap file is ready to use.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Creating a sitemap in Wix<\/h3>\n<p>If you are using Wix, then you don\u2019t need to manually create a sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>Wix does it automatically.<\/p>\n<p>You can view your sitemap file by going to \u201cyour-wix-site.com\/sitemap.xml\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, in Wix, you wouldn\u2019t have much control over your sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to exclude a page from the sitemap, simply go to the \u201cSEO (Google)\u201d settings tab under page settings and turn off \u201cShow this page in search results\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142901\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Wix-Sitemap.png\" alt=\"Creating a sitemap on Wix\" width=\"967\" height=\"625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Wix-Sitemap.png 967w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Wix-Sitemap-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Wix-Sitemap-768x496.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 967px) 100vw, 967px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Wix recommends that you submit your sitemap each time you make any changes.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Creating a sitemap in Squarespace<\/h3>\n<p>Like Wix, Squarespace also creates a sitemap automatically.<\/p>\n<p>You can view your sitemap by adding \u201c\/sitemap.xml\u201d at the end of your website\u2019s URL, which is \u201cyour-website.com\/sitemap.xml\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t manually edit your sitemap in Squarespace, however, you can exclude pages from search results.<\/p>\n<p>To perform this, go to Page setting and check \u201cHide this page from search engine results\u201d in the SEO tab.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142900\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Squarespace-Sitemap.png\" alt=\"Squarespace Sitemap\" width=\"696\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Squarespace-Sitemap.png 696w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Squarespace-Sitemap-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Squarespace-Sitemap-120x90.png 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>5. Creating a sitemap in Shopify<\/h3>\n<p>Shopify automatically generates an XML sitemap file for you. You can view your sitemap file by going to \u201cyour-website.com\/sitemap.xml\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The generated sitemap contains all the products, collections, blogs, and webpages. The sitemap files automatically updated when made any changes.<\/p>\n<p>Now your sitemap file is ready for submission.<\/p>\n<p>Suggested read &#8211;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/08\/03\/foolproof-guide-to-optimizing-shopify-for-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How to optimize your Shopify site for SEO<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>How to submit an XML sitemap to Google<\/h2>\n<p>Now you have just created an XML sitemap file, it\u2019s time for submitting to Google.<\/p>\n<p>For this, you will need to connect your Google Search Console account with your website. Here\u2019s the step by step <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/beginner\/get-started\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">procedure<\/a> by Google.<\/p>\n<p>Once connected, log in to your Google Search Console account and select your website.<\/p>\n<p>From the dashboard, click on the sitemaps.<\/p>\n<p>You will see the option \u201cAdd a new sitemap\u201d.\u00a0Enter your sitemap URL in the blank field, and hit the Submit button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142894\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Submit-Sitemap-1024x451.png\" alt=\"Google Search Console Submit Sitemap\" width=\"640\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Submit-Sitemap-1024x451.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Submit-Sitemap-300x132.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Submit-Sitemap-768x338.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Submit-Sitemap.png 1070w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s it. Now, sit back and relax. Google will take care of the rest.<\/p>\n<h2>Fixing your sitemap errors to improve SEO<\/h2>\n<p>Generally, if your site consists of one or more technical errors, it\u2019s really hard to figure it out. However, in most cases, it\u2019s not even detectable unless you use a paid site auditor tool.<\/p>\n<p>But, there is good news for you.<\/p>\n<p>If you have submitted your sitemap to Google, you can see detailed index coverage reports to check if there is any technical error present on your site.<\/p>\n<p>Log in to your Google Search Console account, and click on Coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Then click on the Error, Valid with a warning, Valid, and Excluded tab to get the details.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142893\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage.png\" alt=\"Google Search Console XML Sitemap Coverage\" width=\"916\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage.png 916w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-300x142.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-768x363.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 916px) 100vw, 916px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From there, you can check pages for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Indexed but blocked by robots.txt<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Pages that have a server error (5xx)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Excluded by \u2018noindex\u2019 tag<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Crawled but not indexed<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Not found (404)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Page with redirect<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Blocked by robots.txt, and many more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142892\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-Error-Details.png\" alt=\"Google Search Console Sitemap Coverage Error Details\" width=\"906\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-Error-Details.png 906w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-Error-Details-300x221.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Google-Search-Console-Sitemap-Coverage-Error-Details-768x565.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 906px) 100vw, 906px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click on each of the error pages to check what you need to fix. Once done, you can request Google to mark it as fixed by clicking on Validate Fix.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142899\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Sitemap-Coverage-Validate-Fix.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"920\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Sitemap-Coverage-Validate-Fix.png 920w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Sitemap-Coverage-Validate-Fix-300x70.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Sitemap-Coverage-Validate-Fix-768x179.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once you fix all the technical errors with the help of your XML sitemap file, you can see a significant improvement in your search traffic.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Creating an XML sitemap is very simple and doesn\u2019t require any technical skills. If you are using WordPress, you can create a sitemap using SEO plugins in just a few clicks. It\u2019s also easier if you are not using any <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/16\/how-seo-friendly-cms-can-support-your-digital-goals-now-and-in-future\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence that a sitemap boosts your website\u2019s SEO, but it helps Google to find and index your website\u2019s content faster. I also recommend you use a sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>Submitting a sitemap to Google is just a tiny part of the full SEO game.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jyoti Ray is the Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpmyweb.com\/hosting\/best-siteground-alternatives.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WPMyWeb.com<\/a>. He writes about blogging, WordPress tutorials, hosting, and affiliate marketing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detailed information on sitemaps and the benefits of using them. This article covers how to properly create an XML sitemap using different tools and details on how you can fix existing sitemap errors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":142905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5],"tags":[369,37,215,22,32,726,217,27413,3487,27341],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-142891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-development","category-seo","tag-evergreen-content","tag-google","tag-google-search-console","tag-seo","tag-serps","tag-site-architecture","tag-technical-seo","tag-website-optimization","tag-xml","tag-xml-sitemap"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/How-to-create-an-XML-sitemap-and-submit-it-to-Google.png","category":"Development","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142891"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=142891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}