What are some common problems you may encounter in website maps?

Friends who do website SEO optimization may be familiar with sitemaps. The main function of sitemaps is to allow search engines, especially Google, to better index all URLs of the website. When I first started, I didn’t know much about website maps. A few days ago, I saw a friend asking in the group what forms of sitemaps there are. After seeing this, the editor sorted out some questions related to sitemaps and shared them with everyone.

Common questions about XML Sitemaps include :

1. There are several forms of writing Sitemap

There are three types: sitemap.xml; sitemap.html; sitemap.txt. Any one of these three can be used.

2. If there is no Sitemap, will it affect the inclusion?

Sitemap is to make your site better indexed. Especially when your site has a deep content hierarchy, or contains many URLs that can only be obtained through js or submitting forms, Sitemap can help search engine robots crawl URLs that are originally difficult to obtain. If your site is simple, each page can be reached via an HTML link, and the hierarchy does not exceed three levels, then all of it will be included without a Sitemap.

3. If I submit a Sitemap, will it definitely be included? Or, will there be penalties for improper submission?

Submitting a Sitemap can help your site be better indexed, but if your site has content or operational problems, it will not be included. Your site will never be penalized for submitting a correct or incorrect XML Sitemap.

4. What is the specific use of Sitemap?

Sitemap provides search engines with information including all URLs of the site, the last update time of the site pages, and the relative weight of each URL in the site.

5. Will Sitemap improve website ranking?

Although website rankings have no direct relationship with Sitemap, because Sitemap provides search engines with more information about your site, it helps search engines better evaluate your site. For sites with excellent content, XML Sitemap can help improve rankings in a certain sense.

6. Would it be better to set the priority of all pages to 1.0?

Won't. Priority simply indicates the weight of each URL on your site relative to this site. If all are set to 1.0, it will have the same effect as not setting any priority.

7. Where should the Sitemap be placed?

For the Google search engine, Sitemaps can be placed anywhere it can be crawled, including on other websites. You need to submit the stored address to Google through Google Webmaster Tools. Other search engines need to be placed in the root directory of the website and also need to be submitted.

8. I only submit the website map in Html format, is that okay?

Website maps in Html format are mainly used to facilitate user browsing and cannot play the role of Sitemap. So it’s best to have both.

9. How to create a Sitemap? The easiest way.

The easiest way is to list all the individual page URLs of the website, put them in Notepad, name it Sitemap.txt and submit it directly to Google. Other search engines do not support this method.