Imagine walking into a large, unknown forest with no paths or signs. The chances of finding the most beautiful spots are slim. For Google search engines, your website is that forest. A sitemap is the roadmap that tells you exactly where all the important pages are located.

At Mediawax, we ensure that every website we deliver comes equipped with a perfect sitemap. In this blog, we explain why this is crucial for your SEO and how to create one yourself.

What exactly is a sitemap?

A sitemap is simply a list of all the pages on your website. There are two main forms:

XML sitemap (for search engines): This is a technical file intended for robots (such as Googlebot). It tells them which pages exist, how important they are, and when they were last updated.
HTML sitemap (for visitors): This is a page on your website (often in the footer) that provides an overview of all sections, so visitors can quickly find their way around.

Why do you need a sitemap?

Faster indexing: Google discovers new pages or blogs much faster if they are listed in the sitemap.
Hierarchy: You indicate which pages are the most important.
Large websites: Especially for webshops with hundreds of products, a sitemap helps prevent Google from overlooking pages.
Media optimization: There are also specific sitemaps for videos and images, which helps you be found better in Google Images as well.

How do you create a sitemap for your website?

Depending on how your website is built, there are different ways to approach this:

1. In WordPress (The easiest way)

Most WordPress sites use plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

As soon as you install these, they automatically generate an XML sitemap (usually found at yourwebsite.be/sitemap_index.xml).

The big advantage? Every time you write a new blog post, the sitemap is automatically updated.

2. Online generators

Do you have a small, static website? Then use a tool like XML-Sitemaps.com.

You enter your URL.

The tool scans your site and creates a file.

You must then manually upload this file (sitemap.xml) to the root folder of your server via FTP. Note: you must do this manually again if you add pages.

3. Custom-built websites

At Mediawax, we often build custom solutions. In that case, we write a script that dynamically generates the sitemap. This ensures that the technology always aligns 100% with the content.

The most important final step: Google Search Console

Creating a sitemap is step one. Step two is telling Google that it exists.
Log in to Google Search Console.
Go to 'Sitemaps'.
Enter the URL of your sitemap and click 'Submit'. Now Google knows exactly how your website is structured, and the search engine can work more efficiently to get you higher in the results.

Conclusion

A sitemap is the foundation of a good SEO strategy. It ensures that not a single page of your website goes unnoticed. Do you have no idea whether your website has a sitemap, or is it not working properly?

Let Mediawax help you.