sitemap.xml
A `sitemap.xml` file is an XML file that provides search engines with information about the pages on a website. It helps improve the website's visibility in search results. Here’s a simple overview of its structure and purpose:
Purpose of sitemap.xml:
- Helps search engines discover the pages on your site.
- Informs search engines about updates to your content.
- Can specify the priority of pages for crawling.
Basic Structure:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2023-10-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>daily</changefreq>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/about</loc>
<lastmod>2023-09-25</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>
Key Elements:
- loc: The URL of the page.
- lastmod: The date the page was last modified.
- changefreq: How frequently the page is likely to change (e.g., daily, weekly).
- priority: The priority of the page relative to other pages on the site (0.0 to 1.0).
Best Practices:
- Keep the sitemap updated with recent changes.
- Limit the number of URLs to 50,000 per sitemap.
- Use multiple sitemaps