Do you wish to create an XML Sitemap on your website to notify search engines when you update or publish content?

All-in-One SEO makes this super easy. It's enabled automatically and requires very little configuration. I will show you how to review and validate your sitemap, so you are confident that it contains the right content.

Are you curious about sitemaps and how to create them in WordPress?

A sitemap allows search engines to quickly navigate through your website content. It provides a list of all your content in a machine-readable format. We will be discussing what a sitemap is, and how to create one using WordPress.

What is an XML Sitemap?

An XML sitemap provides information such as the last time your content was published or updated. It is an essential part of SEO since it helps search engines locate your content and tells them if you have removed or changed content. Search engines use this data to determine the content that should be included and updated in searches.

A sitemap is used more often nowadays and is now published in XML instead of HTML. It allows website owners and search engines to find all pages on a website.

It tells search engine crawlers which links are more valuable than others and how often you update your website.

Sitemaps will allow search engines to better crawl your site, access more content, and show it in search results. It can help you rank higher and get more traffic.

Without an XML Sitemap, it can take longer for your content to appear on SERPs.

You should fully understand what your XML Sitemap contains. You must review it regularly to ensure you're not excluding or putting in content that search engines don't like.

More Resources:

How Can You Create a Sitemap Easily?
How to Verify Your Site with Google Search Console

Why should you create an XML sitemap?

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Natsea Premium
Thank you Israel for this info. I have a question for you. I submitted sitemaps in my GSC and also Bing webmaster. In Bing is still there and I dont have to resubmit it again. However in GSC after time, is showing me 0 urls in sitemaps and I have to submit it again. And it is repeating. Is it normal or something is wrong?
Thank you so much for your answer.
Nat
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Israel17 Premium
@Natsea
Oh, sorry for my late reply, Nat! Which of Rankmath, AIOSEO, and Yoast SEO are you currently using? Let me know and I will suggest a solution. Thanks!

Israel Olatunji
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Natsea Premium
@Israel17
Hello Israel. No problem. I'm using AIOSEO, but this will be replaced based on Kyle's blog. For now it is still there. Lets see.
Thank you
Nat
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JKulk1 Premium
Hi Israel. Thanks for this training on site maps. I'm currently having trouble verifying my latest site. I've forgotten how you do this. One training segments says to copy the html code from Google site Console into WordPress homepage, but In can't find where on my home page to place it. Jim
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Israel17 Premium
@JKulk1
Glad you read my Sitemap creation tutorial, Jim! Are you on AIO SEO? If yes, you aren't going to copy any HTML anymore. It's now made easier with AIO SEO. You won't ever need to copy any code. You just need to rework your AIO SEO Sitemap settings, and you're good to go.

Israel Olatunji
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BrightSales Premium
I appreciate this training friend. I just want to let you know that as for the URLs max it is not 1,000 for each Sitemap which you've stated on lesson 4 here. It is 50,000 URLs max for each Sitemap. After the 50,000 max, then you will have to break them up. Unless, you meant something else. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
All the best!
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Hey Bright, what warrants setting a limit of 1000 URLs per sitemap page is that search engines find it difficult to crawl when each sitemap page is set above this limit. And that's the essence of creating this tutorial. Thanks for reading!

Remain bright!

Israel
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BrightSales Premium
@Israel17
I have searched everywhere on Google friend, and I can't find where it says that the search engines find it difficult to crawl above 1000 URLs. Can you point to your source of info? I want to remain bright. Lol!. Thanks.
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Hey Bright, while it's a maximum of 50,000 URLs per sitemap page, it's only a suggestion by AIO SEO to split the sitemap into pages, with a max of 1000 URLs per page. While this is an AIO SEO's suggestion as shown in the image attached, you're, however, free to set yours to a max of 50,000 URLs per page. Did you get it?

AIO SEO further advises that you can leave this setting to a maximum of 50,000 URLs. You may only have to reduce the number if it's taking longer to view sitemap pages.

Once again, Bright, it's not a rule or a law to set each sitemap page to 1000 URLs. You may only have to do that for the ease of viewing sitemap pages.

I'm following AIO SEO's suggestion because I trust their SEO advice. 2,000,000+ people can't be wrong, I think.

Israel Olatunji
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BrightSales Premium
@Israel17
I was reading about sitemap limits on various sources and found out that the old data for Sitemap limit was 1000 URLs. Since then, it was changed to 50,000 URLs. I was simply asking why 1000 URLs and not 2000, 3000, 4000? But as I see, AIO SEO only suggested that. I guess I was focusing too much on your "should contain no more than 1000 URLs" part of the blog. But I get it now. Point taken friend. All the best!
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Oh, sorry I got you confused, Bright! Thanks for getting back!

Israel Olatunji
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RCanty Premium Plus
Very helpful information! I ran into Sitemap issues a few days ago and this info would have come in handy. Good to see it out there now.

Canty
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Israel17 Premium
@RCanty
Glad it came in handy, Canty! Much appreciated, my friend!

Israel Olatunji
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Aussiemuso Premium Plus
I always wondered about this Israel.
Thanks for clearing up some points for me.

Lily
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Israel17 Premium
@Aussiemuso
Most welcome, Lily! Glad you found it helpful! Creating a sitemap is crucial for SEO. Thanks again!

Israel Olatunji
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