XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is a kind of road map on your website. It is a page containing a list of all the web pages found on a website. This roadmap is intended for Google.

What is an XML sitemap?

It is a tool for Google’s crawlers to pick out your website. A sitemap built specifically for the search engines is not visible to visitors. Such a sitemap for the search engines is also called XML sitemap. The file is created in a special format (XML) so that search engines can read it.

The importance of an XML sitemap

An XML sitemap has benefits for your SEO. Crawlers use the site map as a floor plan. Through the sitemap, Google crawls the complete link structure of your website. The idea is that Google can get to every linked page of the website. In doing so, it is important that your website is properly crawled. An XML sitemap takes care of this.

How do you create a sitemap?

You create a sitemap by using different plugins:

  • The WordPress Sitemap Page plugin for an HTML sitemap
  • The WordPress Yoast SEO plugin for an XML sitemap

My advice

We recommend capitalizing the most important words of a meta title. This highlights the positive attributes of your business. When these positive elements stand out, searchers will be quicker From this it follows that creating an XML sitemap has benefits for your SEO. It is a tool that Google uses while crawling a website. The link structure of a website is exposed by an XML sitemap. It provides overview and structure. These are factors that Google sees as pluses during crawling. For this reason, make sure that your website has an XML sitemap!are clicking on it.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
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I have been working for 10 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 27 March 2024. The last update of this article was on 27 March 2024. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.