A
sitemap.xml is an XML file that helps search engines understand the structure of your website. It provides important information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site, and the relationships between them.
Here are some key features of a
sitemap.xml:
- URL Structure: Lists the URLs of your website.
- Last Modified: Indicates when a page was last updated.
- Change Frequency: Suggests how often a page is likely to change.
- Priority: Indicates the importance of a page relative to other pages on your site.
To create a
sitemap.xml file, you can use various tools or manually code it. Here’s a simple example:
<?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>2023-09-15</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>
Having a
sitemap.xml can enhance your website's SEO by ensuring that search engines can crawl and index your pages effectively.