Defining XML sitemap and how it all started

XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) has been developed to enable the various types of computer systems and computer applications to share data through a basic syntax. A sitemap is a type of XML that specifically lists URL’s on a website and through this function the web marketer exposes it to the search engines.

The crawlers sent out by the search engines can now make a more informed analysis about the particular website. Metadata about each URL and the relevance it has towards each other is just one of the functions that the crawlers can identify through sitemaps. Sitemaps in other words makes the website ‘crawler friendly” and is therefore very useful for marketing purposes.

These maps were initially introduced in 2005 by Google to enable web marketers to list as well as publish all the URL’s on the site. The sitemap protocol, based on crawler friendly web servers, received strong support from the major search engines as well as quite a few prominent US states. Sitemap protocol however, merely allows the web crawlers of search engines to do a much better job at crawling the site and does not necessarily mean that web pages are included as well.

XML Sitemap Tools to make SEO a breeze

Google has made it relatively easy for web masters to participate in sitemaps. They simply have to create a sitemap by following the easy instructions by Google and then have to submit the sitemap to the search engine.

Google Webmaster Tools will indicate if the website is progressing in the search results. This will also help create sites that are more “Google friendly”. One of the most significant purposes of the tools is to provide easy access by web crawlers to all the pages of the website.

A sitemap has to be submitted before Google can access the pages.

XML sitemap generator is a tool that creates a sitemap while the web designer simply carries on with the SEO. It also allows you to update and manage your sitemaps much faster and more efficient. This is done by installing a PHP on your server and by integrating it with SoloSEO it enables the SEO’s to easily access and crawl your sitemap.

XML Sitemap Validator is one of a range of very useful tools that can be used by web marketers for website optimization. The sitemap validator allows the marketer to immediately spot any problem areas within the sitemaps. These problems can be attended to as soon as possible before it is being forwarded to the search engines.

How does XML Sitemap affect your rankings?

It has been difficult to pinpoint if using a sitemap has increased rankings but some web masters confirm that it most certainly creates a better relationship with the search engine. By making the website almost totally accessible to the search engine through the crawlers establishes a form of ‘trust’ between the two. This is bound to put you in the Google ‘good books’.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 am and is filed under SEO Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.