In this article we will tell you what a website map is, what it is used for, what benefits it has, the step-by-step instructions for creating it in WordPress and which plugins you can use to do it.

What is a sitemap?

A website map, also known as «sitemap», is a visual representation or list of all the pages that make up a website.

It is structured in a hierarchical manner to show the relationship between different pages and how they are connected. Basically, it is like a blueprint that guides search engines and human visitors through the structure of your website. website.

What is a sitemap for?

A website map has several fundamental purposes:

Facilitates navigation:

For human visitors, a website map provides an overview of your site structure. This helps them easily find the information they are looking for, which improves the user experience.

Improve indexing:

Search engines use the sitemaps to track and index your website pages more efficiently. This means that your pages will appear in search results more effectively.

Identify problems:

When creating a website map, you can identify problems in your website structure, such as orphan pages (without internal links) or broken links. This allows you to correct problems and improve the quality of your site.

Content prioritization:

You can indicate the relative importance of your pages in the sitemap, which helps search engines understand what content is most relevant.

Benefits of creating a website sitemap

Create a website map generates multiple significant benefits:

Improves visibility in search engines:

By making your pages easier to crawl and index, you increase your chances of appearing in search results, which drives more traffic to your site.

Optimize the user experience:

Visitors can navigate your site more efficiently, increasing user retention and satisfaction.

Facilitates expansion:

When you add new pages or content to your website, an updated sitemap ensures that these elements are quickly recognized by search engines.

Identify technical problems:

When creating a sitemap, You can detect and address technical and link issues before they negatively impact your SEO.

How can you create a website sitemap?

Let's see!

WordPress does not include a function that allows you to generate website maps natively, so it is necessary to install a plugin for this task. A popular and recommended plugin is «Yoast SEO», which not only generates sitemaps but also offers many other SEO features.

Step by step to generate a website map

1. Log in to your WordPress admin panel, enter your website and access the administrative panel.
2. Go to Plugins in the menu on the left and select “Add New.”
3. In the search filter, put «Yoast SEO» and then click on «Install Now». Once installed, activate the plugin.

Settings for the Yoast SEO plugin:

1. In the admin panel, you will find a new option called “SEO” in the left menu. Click it and select “General Settings”.
2. Go to the “Features” tab and make sure that the “XML Sitemaps» is activated.
3. Then go to the “Site Maps«.

Configure your sitemap options:

1. In the tab «Site Maps» from the plugin Yoast SEO, You'll find several options to customize your sitemap. The default settings are generally suitable for most websites, but you can adjust them to suit your needs.
2. Click the “Save Changes” button once you have configured the options to your liking.

Generate your website map:

1. Once you have configured the options, you can generate your site map by clicking the “View XML Sitemap” link on the same page.
2. This will take you to a page that displays the contents of your sitemap in XML format.

Submit your sitemap to search engines:

1. Copy the URL of your XML sitemap and add it to Google Webmaster Tools (Google Search Console) or Bing Webmaster Tools (Bing Webmaster Tools).

Search engines like Google and Bing allow you to submit sitemaps so that they index your web pages more efficiently. This will make it easier for the search engines crawl and update your site regularly.

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