Even if your website is thorough, well-organised, and user-friendly, a sitemap still serves as a crucial guide for search engines. It provides a clear map of all the essential pages that need to be indexed, ensuring that no important pages are overlooked.
Nothing is worse for SEO than having your website ignored by search engines, which is why sitemaps are so important. They provide a way for search engines to crawl and explore your site effectively, making sure that it appears in the search results when a relevant query is prompted.
But optimising your sitemap is more than just good practice—it’s a necessary step to making your website accessible and efficient for both search engines and users. Whether you’re managing a simple blog or a large e-commerce site, adhering to SEO sitemap best practices ensures that everyone can find your content.
Why Sitemap Optimisation Should Be Practiced
Beyond guaranteeing site visibility in Google search results, it highlights important content, such as services, product categories, or popular blog posts. This filters out the least important aspects of your site and allows search engines to prioritise what matters most.
A sitemap is necessary for larger or more complex websites. If you’re running an e-commerce site, an optimised sitemap ensures that your product categories and top-selling items are front and centre, while less critical pages, like outdated promotions, take a back seat.
Once you set up a sitemap, you’re updating your website’s “instruction manual.” This makes your site easier to navigate for both search engines and users, improving your chances of ranking well and delivering a great experience.
15 Sitemap SEO Best Practices
1. Include Only Canonical URLs
Your sitemap should exclusively list canonical URLs—the ones you want search engines to prioritise and index. Canonical URLs play an important role in preventing duplicate content issues, which can arise when your site has copies of similar pages. This is common for e-commerce stores where there are different variants of a product.
This also directs search engines toward the right page, boosting that page’s ranking in search results. It’s a straightforward process but an impactful way to strengthen your site’s overall SEO performance.
2. Keep Your Sitemap Updated Regularly
If your sitemap doesn’t reflect the current state of your website, it can confuse search engines. Imagine having removed a product or service page months ago, but it’s still listed in your sitemap—search engines might waste time trying to crawl a page that no longer exists. Worse, it could lead to users landing on error pages.
Keeping the sitemap current is even more critical for fast-paced websites, like blogs with frequent posts or e-commerce sites that constantly update products. Your sitemap should reflect these changes each time you make an update.
Don’t brush off this step, it can make a big difference in how efficiently search engines crawl your website and how well your content performs in search results, so be vigilant and ensure everything is in order.
3. Limit The Size Of Your Sitemap
When it comes to sitemaps, bigger isn’t always better. Search engines like Google impose limits on sitemap size, restricting each file to a maximum of 50MB or 50,000 URLs. For smaller websites, this is usually not an issue, but for larger sites like content-heavy blogs or guides, these limits can be a challenge.
To manage this, large websites often split their sitemaps into multiple smaller files. These are then linked together through a sitemap index file, which acts like a directory for all your files. Essentially, you can have individual files for product categories, blog posts, or multimedia content, making it easier for crawlers to focus on specific sections of your site.
Like large images slowing down a website’s load speed, a bloated sitemap can slow down the crawling process, wasting valuable time and resources for both search engines and your website. Monitor your sitemap size for smooth operations, and you will be good to go.
4. Submit Your Sitemap To Search Engines
We have talked about sitemaps quite a lot, but submitting your sitemap to search engines is one of the most important steps. Tools like Google Search Console make this process easy and provide data on how well your sitemap is performing.
Although it’s true that Google will eventually discover your sitemap on its own, directly submitting it skips the queue and guarantees they have access to the most accurate version right away.
Submitting your sitemap also allows you to monitor how well search engines are crawling your site. You’ll gain insights into how many pages are being indexed, how often the sitemap is being accessed, and whether there are any areas for improvement. So, if you’re keeping track, you will know the health of your site’s SEO performance.
5. Make Your Sitemap Accessible
Search engines rely on predictable locations to locate sitemaps, so placing it in your site’s root directory is a best practice.
For example, having your sitemap available at “www.example.com/sitemap.xml” means search engines can locate it quickly.
Another important step is including the sitemap’s location in your robots.txt file. This file guides search engine crawlers, telling them which areas of your site to access or avoid. Without this step, search engines might miss your sitemap entirely, resulting in parts of your site not being crawled or indexed.
An inaccessible sitemap reduces its effectiveness, and search engines thrive on efficiency. The easier you make it for them to find your sitemap, the better.
6. Avoid Adding Noindex Pages
The purpose of a sitemap is to highlight the pages you want search engines to find and store, while a “noindex” tag tells them to avoid indexing certain pages, including both signals on the same page can confuse search engines and undermine your SEO efforts.
You see, search engines have a crawl budget. This term refers to the resources search engines allocate when crawling a site.
If search engines spend time processing “noindex” pages from your sitemap, they might miss or delay crawling the pages you want indexed.
To avoid this issue, be selective about the pages you include in your sitemap. For example, administrative pages, duplicate content, or pages specifically marked as “noindex” should be left out of your sitemap. Remember, you can directly decide what page appears on your sitemap.
7. Use Tags For Multimedia Content
Specific sitemaps for multimedia like videos and images go beyond simply listing media files—they provide valuable metadata to help search engines understand what the content is about.
For videos, this might include titles, descriptions, durations, and even thumbnail images. For images, metadata can highlight captions, licenses, and geographic data.
These sitemaps are useful for websites where visual content is a priority. For instance, an online store with detailed product images benefits from images appearing in search results to lure users in.
Similarly, video tutorials and marketing campaigns gain more visibility when search engines can properly index their media content. Without multimedia sitemaps, these valuable assets might be overlooked, reducing their impact.
8. Include the Tag
The tag in a sitemap is a timestamp for your content—it tells search engines when a specific page was last updated.
This small but impactful detail helps search engines prioritise their crawling efforts, focusing on the pages that have seen recent changes or updates. For old content like blogs and news platforms, the tag is invaluable.
Search engines love active content, so when a page’s tag indicates recent activity, they’re more likely to crawl it sooner. This is particularly important for content that needs to stay current, such as breaking news, updated product information, or revised service details.
Without this tag, search engines might not immediately recognise the changes, delaying updates in search results.
But using tags also tells search engines that your website is still maintained and relevant to the present day, which can positively impact your overall SEO performance.
9. Group Similar Pages
When your website has many pages, grouping similar ones in your sitemap can make a big difference.
Although it is similar to limiting the size of sitemaps, grouping similar pages by categories makes it easy for search engines to process and index.
For example, suppose your “Winter Clothing” category is linked to specific product pages. In that case, search engines understand that these pages are part of a broader group like “Seasonal Clothing”, which enhances their ability to serve relevant search results to users.
Grouping similar pages is about organisation and structure; users and search engines appreciate orderly and well-organised websites.
10. Validate Your Sitemap
A sitemap is only effective if it’s correctly formatted and error-free.
Many diagnostic tools are online, but Google Search Console is the most accessible and popular. These tools scan your sitemap for problems such as broken links, inaccessible pages, or syntax errors that could prevent search engines from crawling your site.
A validated sitemap helps avoid unnecessary indexing problems and, in the long run, saves you the time and headache of figuring out what’s wrong.
For example, if your sitemap contains incorrect URLs that lead to error pages or redirects, search engines might waste valuable crawl budgets trying to access something that doesn’t exist.
Validation also confirms that your sitemap complies with search engine requirements, such as proper XML formatting and size limitations. A well-formatted sitemap is more likely to be crawled effectively and rank better for SEO.
11. Avoid Broken Links
Like unfinished highways or dead ends— broken links waste valuable time and resources that could have been used to crawl other pages in your site.
Search engines are particular about trust and consistency, so these roadblocks and dead ends can harm your site’s efficiency and credibility.
If you have many broken links, Google will see it as a sign of poor site maintenance and even penalise you by ranking you lower.
Before submitting any sitemap, it is important to ensure that every URL listed is live and functional. This means checking for pages that lead to 404 errors, redirects that don’t work properly, or links pointing to outdated content.
Broken links can stop search engines from indexing your site fully, which means some of your valuable pages might never see the light of search results.
12. Focus On Quality Pages
When it comes to SEO, always showcase the best of what you have to offer. Your sitemap should showcase your website’s most valuable content, not a dumping ground for every page.
Low-quality and duplicated content can dilute the effectiveness of your sitemap, making truly high-quality pages difficult to stand out amidst the crowd. Instead, prioritise pages that provide real value to users. In-depth blog articles or content that has high traffic should take precedence.
Excluding low-quality pages also improves the efficiency of your sitemap. Every site’s crawl budget is limited, so make the most of it by eliminating placeholder pages, outdated content, or overly generic URLs.
13. Prioritise For Mobile
Mobile-first indexing has become the norm, and Google now prioritises the mobile version of your site when determining rankings. It’s no longer a choice between having a mobile-friendly sitemap or not—it’s a necessity.
If your site has a separate mobile version (which it should), those URLs need to be included in your sitemap for index purposes.
Naturally, optimising for mobile includes all the basic bells and whistles: pages should load quickly, the interface must be easy to navigate, and menus should be intuitive. For responsive websites, where the desktop and mobile versions share the same URLs, the focus would shift to maintaining a clean, updated sitemap that reflects your best content.
Site owners should always test how their site looks and performs on different devices, be they Android, Apple, or Tablets. By prioritising mobile optimisation in your sitemap, you’re setting your site up for success in a mobile-driven world.
14. Leverage Priority Tags
Your sitemap’s tag tells search engines which pages are the most important. Contrary to popular belief and its name, they don’t guarantee search engines will prioritise those pages. Instead, it helps nudge them towards those pages.
It’s still important, especially for time-sensitive events like festive seasons. An e-commerce site with thousands of product pages can use tags to highlight high-converting categories or flagship products.
But assigning every page as a “priority” dilutes its meaning. Instead, focus on the pages that really matter, such as home pages, popular products, or high-traffic blogs.
On the other hand, less critical pages, such as archived blog posts or supplementary content, can be assigned lower priorities. This helps search engines focus on the pages that matter most to your business goals and audience.
15. Make Sure HTTPS Pages Are Included
If your website uses HTTPS, all of the protocol URLs in your sitemap must be standardised. Mixing HTTP and HTTPS links in your sitemap can confuse search engines since they perceive the same page under two protocols as duplicate content.
Search engines tend to favour HTTPS pages because they provide a safer browsing experience for users, so including HTTP links might undermine your site’s credibility. If you’ve recently migrated your site to HTTPS, double-check that your sitemap reflects this change, as outdated links can linger and cause issues.
Conclusion On SEO Sitemap Best Practices
Sitemaps are an integral part of any SEO strategy. Guiding search engines to discover your content for the world to see is just as important as optimising keywords and title tags. By following these SEO sitemap best practices, you can guarantee that your content is crawled and indexed efficiently.
However, SEO sitemaps require routine maintenance, and monitoring their performance is critical for optimal performance. So, why not partner with us? Best SEO knows all the ins and outs of Google, so much so that we have a bold policy.
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Frequently Asked Questions About SEO Sitemap Best Practices
What Types Of Pages Should I Exclude From My Sitemap?
Exclude pages like duplicates, admin pages, or pages marked with “noindex,” as they don’t need to appear in search results.
When Should A Sitemap Be Resubmitted To Search Engines?
Resubmit your sitemap after major updates or changes to ensure search engines know the new structure.
Is It OK To Include Non-Canonical URLs In A Sitemap?
No. Only canonical URLs should be included to avoid confusion and duplicate content issues.
How Do I Know If My Sitemap Is Helping My SEO?
You can check its performance using Google Search Console, which shows how many pages are indexed and highlights any issues.
How Long Does It Take For A Sitemap To Work?
Once submitted, search engines may start crawling it within hours, but indexing all your pages can take days or weeks, depending on your site.
Is It Necessary To Have Separate Sitemaps for Images And Videos?
Yes. If your website has significant image or video content, creating separate sitemaps ensures better indexing of multimedia files.
