What is XML Sitemap?
Answered across 9 episodes of The Best SEO Podcast
Edited and curated by Matthew Bertram, host of The Best SEO Podcast (produced by EWR Digital).
A file that tells Google what pages exist on your site. SEO plugins like Yoast and All in One SEO generate these automatically, but the episode warns they can be finicky and should be reviewed regularly.
How experts on the show define it
A file that tells Google what pages exist on your site. SEO plugins like Yoast and All in One SEO generate these automatically, but the episode warns they can be finicky and should be reviewed regularly.
From Enterprise SEO For WordPress: Plugins, Tips & Proven Tactics by Matthew Bertram Ep. 532
A file that helps Google and other search engine spiders understand and crawl a site's structure; must be correctly configured and submitted in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
From How to Find and Fix 14 Technical SEO Problems That Can Be Damaging Your Site Now by Joe Robison #371
A file that lists a site's pages so search engines can discover and index them; new content should be included in it, ideally generated dynamically by a plugin like Yoast.
From The complete guide to optimizing content for SEO by Nate Dame #369
A file described as a big list of every post, page, and piece of media on your website that you submit to Google through Search Console to tell them everything you want indexed.
From Top 10 WordPress SEO Mistakes That Beginners Make by Joe Howard #376
A file that helps search engines discover and index your site pages. The episode states plainly that every site needs one.
From 2015 Year End Review, Part 2 with Chris and Charles #304
A file submitted through Search Console that tells search engines about new or updated pages so they can be crawled and indexed more quickly.
From #SEOPodcast292 - Eight Most Common but Simple Missed Opportunities in Optimizing Content
A sitemap formatted for search engine robots so they can index a site thoroughly and efficiently, distinct from an HTML sitemap meant for human users.
A file submitted to Google Webmaster Tools so Google can receive site updates and index pages the way you intend.
A file submitted to webmaster tools that lists a site's pages so search engines can find and index them, and should be updated whenever navigation or pages change.
Episodes that cover this
- Enterprise SEO For WordPress: Plugins, Tips & Proven Tactics by Matthew Bertram Ep. 532
- How to Find and Fix 14 Technical SEO Problems That Can Be Damaging Your Site Now by Joe Robison #371
- The complete guide to optimizing content for SEO by Nate Dame #369
- Top 10 WordPress SEO Mistakes That Beginners Make by Joe Howard #376
- 2015 Year End Review, Part 2 with Chris and Charles #304
- #SEOPodcast292 - Eight Most Common but Simple Missed Opportunities in Optimizing Content
- Increasing SEO Visibility - #SEOpodcast 249
- SERP and SEVO - #seopodcast 163
- Producing Great Content for SEO - #seopodcast 144
Related answers
See the full SEO & AI search glossary.
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