SEO experts often recommend various practices, but how do you discern the most valuable ones? Here’s a list of prioritized sitemap best practices for you.
1.Page Prioritization. Prioritizing your pages allows you to efficiently channel more traffic to your most valuable content. Google’s sitemaps protocol enables you to assign scores ranging from 0.1 to 1 to your pages. Search engine crawlers will frequent the pages with higher ratings more often, enabling them to promptly detect any changes and assess their value. Reserve higher ratings for dynamic pages, like frequently-updated blogs or posts, while assigning lower ratings to static pages, such as your privacy policy or terms of use.
2.Dynamic Sitemaps. Consider creating dynamic sitemaps instead of static ones. While static sitemaps may seem convenient, they don’t automatically reflect updates and are more susceptible to errors. Even if you manage a small blog, opting for a dynamic sitemap can save you the trouble of manual updates. Dynamic sitemaps adapt to changes automatically, following a set of rules you provide. Additionally, search engine bots and crawlers find dynamic sitemaps easier to access and crawl.
3.Sitemap Tools. Many website developers worldwide rely on sitemap tools and generators to simplify the process. Crafting a sitemap of any website from scratch can be complex if you’re not well-versed in coding. Once you’ve created your sitemaps, submit them to Google Search Console effortlessly. Click the “sitemaps” button on the Google Search Console dashboard, paste your sitemap URL, and hit submit. You can monitor the sitemaps you’ve added in the “Sitemaps Added” section.
4.Content Categorization. Effectively organizing your homepage, categories, and subcategories enhances search engine understanding of your content and website structure. Segregate categories and subcategories based on content similarity to ensure content coherence within each category, enhancing site navigation for users.
5.Avoid “Noindex” URLs. Keep in mind that your sitemap should prioritize pages valuable to both you and your viewers—the content you aim to rank in the SERPs. A “noindex” page is one you don’t want search engines to crawl, including essential pages like logins, DMCA, and checkout pages. Adding “noindex” URLs to your sitemap contradicts this objective, leading to errors in your Google Search Console report and inefficiently utilizing your crawl budget. Exercise caution when adding URLs to your sitemap, especially when using a dynamic sitemap, to prevent unwanted entries.
6.Optimal Sitemap. Placement Strategically placing your sitemap is crucial for user navigation. Make the HTML sitemap visible on your homepage, ensuring it’s among the first things visitors encounter. Place XML sitemaps in the root directory for similar benefits. Search engines typically initiate crawling from your homepage, simplifying the discovery of newly added links.
7.URL Restriction. For mid-sized to large websites, it’s common to have an extensive number of links that won’t fit into a single sitemap. Consider creating separate sitemaps for each category to maintain organization and avoid overwhelming readers or triggering link farm suspicions. Link farms are frowned upon by search engines and can result in penalties. To limit URLs in your sitemap, use canonical versions, listing the primary product page URL to signify the main one.
