Want to create a sitemap for your WordPress website?
Well, you’ve come to the right place!
We’ll explain everything you need to know about sitemaps and show you how to create one for your website in under 2 minutes!
First, let’s clarify what exactly a sitemap is.
What is an XML Sitemap?
A sitemap is simply a map of your website.
Just as a traditional map helps cayman islands phone number library you navigate and orient yourself in a city, a sitemap helps search engines navigate and understand the structure of your website.
Think of it as a blueprint that outlines all the important pages and content on your website.
Do you really need to have a sitemap?
Well, no, but sitemaps do have their benefits.
They help search engines like Google discover and index your content more efficiently. When search engines crawl your site, they follow the links in your sitemap to find all of the pages and posts on your site. This means your site is more likely to show up in search engine results, making it easier for people to find it.
Plus, it only takes a minute or two to set this up, so why miss out on the opportunity to improve your site’s SEO?
Let’s go straight to the tutorial.
How to Set Up an XML SiteMap in WordPress
A few years ago, you had to hire an SEO (search engine optimization) expert to create a sitemap file for you, which often took weeks!
Fortunately, those days are over. how do polite words diminish our importance? You can generate sitemaps on your own with just a few clicks, thanks to a tool called All in One SEO (or AIOSEO).
All in One SEO is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million people. It’s free to use and beginner-friendly.
In addition to sitemaps, it helps improve your website’s overall SEO . Here are some highlights you might want to know about:
- Automated SEO Website Audit
- Suggestions and tips to improve SEO
- Title Analyzer
- On-Page SEO Editor
- Rich snippets and schema
- Advanced SEO Modules
There’s a lot more to this plugin. We’ve done a full All in One SEO review that you’ll definitely want to check out to get the most out of this plugin.
Now let’s configure the sitemap.
Step 1: Activate All in One SEO
All in One SEO has a free version and a pro version. To install the free version , go to your WordPress admin and open the Plugin » Add New page . Here, search for All in One SEO, install it, and activate it.
If you prefer to have all the advanced features to really improve your SEO, you can subscribe to the pro version . Then, in your AIOSEO account, you will receive a plugin file to upload to your website, along with a license key to activate premium access.
Not sure how to install and activate the plugin? Don’t worry, follow our guide here: How to Install a WordPress Plugin .
If you’re not sure whether to go for the free or pro version, read our All in One SEO Free vs Pro comparison: Is the Premium version worth it?
Step 2: Setting up AIOSEO
When you activate AIOSEO, it will automatically jiangxi mobile phone number list launch the setup wizard. This makes it much easier to configure the correct SEO settings for your website.
When you start using the wizard, you’ll see questions like this to tell the plugin what your site is about and also to set your preferred settings.