SEO
WordPress XML sitemap: create and optimise
18 January 2025 · 7 min read
An XML sitemap is a structured overview of all pages on your website. It helps search engines like Google discover and index your content more efficiently. For WordPress websites, a well-configured sitemap is essential for SEO.
At WP Maintainer we install and optimise sitemaps for all our clients. In this article we explain how to do this yourself.
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all important URLs of your website, along with metadata such as: - Last modification date - Change frequency - Priority relative to other pages
Search engines use this information to deploy crawl budget more efficiently and to find new or changed pages faster.
Why is a sitemap important?
How do you create a sitemap in WordPress?
**Option 2: Dedicated sitemap plugin** - Google XML Sitemaps - XML Sitemap Generator for Google
Optimise the sitemap
**1. Limit the number of URLs** A sitemap may contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs or 50MB. For large websites: use a sitemap index file that refers to multiple sitemaps.
**2. Only canonical URLs** Only add the canonical version of each page. No parameters, tracking codes or duplicate content.
**3. Exclude unimportant pages** Exclude: - Admin and login pages - Thank you pages - Archives with little value - Tag pages (if not optimised)
**4. Update regularly** The sitemap must be automatically updated when you publish or change content. SEO plugins do this by default.
Submit sitemap to search engines
Mistakes to avoid
- Sitemaps with 404 errors or redirects - URLs blocked by robots.txt - Duplicate content in the sitemap - Forgetting to update the sitemap after website changes
WP Maintainer service
We configure, optimise and monitor your XML sitemap as part of our maintenance plan. We ensure search engines can index your content efficiently and warn you of any problems.