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“Google xml sitemaps - setting up and installing the plugin! Detailed manual! How to set up the Google XML Sitemaps plugin

Setting up sitemap.xml and robots.txt

Correctly setting up the robots.txt file and sitemap.xml will eliminate possible problems that arise during indexing.

Content:
  • § 1. Robots.txt file
  • 1.1. Setting up robots
  • 1.2. Check the robots.txt file and meta tags
  • § 2. Sitemap.xml file
  • 2.1. Sitemap Sitemap.html (for visitors)
  • 2.1.1. Search the site via Yandex
  • 2.2. Sitemap Sitemap.xml (for search engines)

§ 1. Robots.txt file

This is an ordinary file that should be located in the root of your site, in the same place where the correct htaccess is located, and this file tells search robots exactly how to index your project, which pages should not be paid attention to, and which ones to pay special attention to

The file contains instructions intended for search bots. It must be placed in the root directory, so bots will begin indexing the page by reading the conditions set out in robots.txt.

Let's look at the advantages robots.txt gives to the resource.

The robots.txt file should be located on the server, at the root of your site. You can also look at any site on the Internet; to do this, just add /robots.txt after the site address.

The robots.txt file, each site has its own characteristics and thoughtless copying of someone else's file can create problems with indexing your site by search robots. Therefore, you need to clearly understand the purpose of the robots.txt file and the purpose of the instructions (directives) that you will use when creating it.

Robots.txt file instructions can:

Deny viewing pages (directories) for all search robots;

Deny viewing pages (directories) for dedicated search robots;

Redirect to another page with a 404 error;

Indicate the location of the site map;

Specify the loading time of pages for indexing.

1.1. Settings

Create a robots.txt file, you can use any text editor, For example Notepad . It is easy to write manually, without resorting to the help of various constructors. One such file is needed for one site.


What should be written in the file?

It is necessary to use two directives: User-agent And Disallow.

User-agent determines which bot this message is addressed to, Disallow shows which page or resource directory is prohibited from being indexed.

List of bot names of the most popular search engines:

Google Googlebot Yandex Yandex Rambler StackRambler Mail.ru Mail.Ru
Yahoo! Slurp (or Yahoo! Slurp)
Alexa ia_archiver

1.2. Check the robots.txt file and meta tags

Some webmasters do not index the whole or part of the site at all, and no matter what you do, robots do not index the site. The reason for this could be the robots.txt file. Perhaps there was a mistake in it or it was not done correctly. Check the robots.txt file for errors (for example, the line Disallow: / closes the entire site from indexing or Disallow: /news/ closes the news section from indexing.) or closed important directories. If the directory that needs to be indexed is closed, open it.

Example correct file on that website.

User-agent: Yandex
Disallow: /assets/cache/
Disallow: /assets/docs/
Disallow: /assets/export/
Disallow: /assets/import/
Disallow: /assets/modules/
Disallow: /assets/plugins/
Disallow: /assets/snippets/
Disallow: /install/
Disallow: /manager/
Disallow: /?
Disallow: /*?
Disallow: /index.php
Allow: /assets/images/

User-agent: Google
Disallow: /assets/cache/
Disallow: /assets/docs/
Disallow: /assets/export/
Disallow: /assets/import/
Disallow: /assets/modules/
Disallow: /assets/plugins/
Disallow: /assets/snippets/
Disallow: /install/
Disallow: /manager/
Disallow: /?
Disallow: /*?
Disallow: /index.php
Allow: /assets/images/

User-agent: Mail.ru
Disallow: /assets/cache/
Disallow: /assets/docs/
Disallow: /assets/export/
Disallow: /assets/import/
Disallow: /assets/modules/
Disallow: /assets/plugins/
Disallow: /assets/snippets/
Disallow: /install/
Disallow: /manager/
Disallow: /?
Disallow: /*?
Disallow: /index.php
Allow: /assets/images/

User-agent: *
Disallow: /assets/cache/
Disallow: /assets/docs/
Disallow: /assets/export/
Disallow: /assets/import/
Disallow: /assets/modules/
Disallow: /assets/plugins/
Disallow: /assets/snippets/
Disallow: /install/
Disallow: /manager/
Disallow: /?
Disallow: /*?
Disallow: /index.php
Allow: /assets/images/

Host: http://site
Sitemap: http://site/sitemap.xml

It is better to indicate instructions for each search engine that is of interest to you separately, as well as to indicate instructions for all other search engines.

User-agen t - indicates the search engine for which the instructions are written.

Allow- allows indexing.

Disallow- prohibits indexing.

Host- indicates the main host.

Sitemap- points the search engine to the xml sitemap.

Another site may not be indexed due to the meta tag. for google and for Yandex. If these codes are placed on a page, then search robots will not index such pages or parts of pages. if you want your pages to be indexed, you need to remove these meta tags from the code.

Example Robots.txt

Based on the above data, you can display a full-fledged robots.

Now that you know the main points of the file we analyzed, you can control the indexing of your site: deny and open for indexing the files, folders and pages you want.

§ 2. Sitemap.xml file

File Sitemap is a file with information about the site pages that are subject to indexing. Using the sitemap.xml file, webmasters can tell search engines about web pages that are crawlable.

Basic file requirements Sitemap:

The file must be located on the same domain as the site for which it was compiled.

- When accessing a file, the server must return an HTTP status code of 200 OK.

The file can contain no more than 50,000 URLs, and its uncompressed size must not exceed 10 MB. If your sitemap does not meet these requirements, split it into several separate files and include them in the sitemap index file.

The file must use UTF-8 encoding.

The file can only describe pages of the domain on which it is located.

There are several ways to create a Sitemap for your website:

using plugins and online generators, as well as composing it manually.

You will learn how to do this, which sitemap generator to use and how to add a map to the Yandex and Google search engines from this article.

2.1 Sitemap Sitemap.html (for visitors)

Sitemap (for visitors)- this is the form additional navigation on the site. With its help, the user can move around the site without using the site navigation.

When creating a sitemap for visitors, pay attention to the following important points:

1. Prominent location. The map should be located where it will be immediately visible (for example, in the main menu of a website or blog).

2. Correct structure and formatting. A high-quality sitemap must contain headings, subheadings and other formatting elements. This makes the information more convenient for perception, and it will be easier for visitors to find the materials that interest them.

3. Availability brief description . Small comments on individual pages site, or categories, or one comment on the entire site map - this is an additional convenience for the visitor.

2.1.1. Search the site via Yandex

Yandex search for site will correct all the shortcomings and make it much easier for visitors to use your site— they will be able to find information much faster.

Anyone who doesn’t even understand languages ​​can figure out the Yandex search settings HTML programming and PHP, and not familiar with CSS.

Yandex search results are higher quality than the results standard search. They turn out to be the most relevant to the searched word or sentence. Visitors stay on your site a little longer this way, even if they don’t find an absolutely relevant answer to their question;

Yandex search for the site takes into account the vocabulary and morphology of the language, allows you to use search tips and customize the search form and other parameters. And all this is free and without restrictions.

2.2 Sitemap Sitemap.xml (for search engines)

Limitations and Features

Search engines favorably relate to sites that have a Sitemap.xml. The fact is that if it is present, search engine robots index site pages faster and better (the likelihood that a page will be accidentally skipped is reduced). Obviously, a sitemap contributes more rapid increase site traffic. However, search engines overlay the site map withSitemap.xml certain restrictions:

the Sitemap file should contain no more than 50 thousand links and be no more than 10 MB in size (archiving can be used to reduce the file size).

What to do if your site is so large that the sitemap exceeds the above values. In this case, you can do the following:

2. create several site maps (for example, a main one containing links to all other maps, and several more minor ones).

And even if these requirements are met, there is no guarantee that search engines will adhere to the sitemap. xml when indexing.

2.3. Online sitemap generators Sitemap

Online generators (generator Sitemap) allow you to generate a sitemap in the form separate file. When adding new pages (or deleting old ones), you will have to create a sitemap using the generator and add it to your site again.

Xml-Sitemaps Generator

A simple and convenient sitemap generator that has several serious drawbacks:

The number of links in the map can be no more than 500;

There is no way to set priority for separate groups pages (posts, pages, categories, tags, etc.);

It is not possible to specify the refresh frequency for individual groups of pages;

The generator looks for “junk” links that should not be in the sitemap (links to comments, links-responses, links “print”, etc.).

You can go to the generator website . You will see a form that you need to fill out.

1. Together website home page address.

2. choose "approximate" refresh rate site.

3. Setting it up update date site pages (None - do not use; Use server’s response - determine automatically; Use this date/time - use current date and time).

4. Setting it up page priority for search engines (None - do not use; Automatically Calculated Priority - calculate automatically).

Start button - starting the generator.

After some time, the map will be generated. A page will appear where you can use the link to download the Sitemap.xml and add it to the root directory of the site (usually this is the “public_html” folder).


The path to the map can be written in the robots.txt file using the following statement:

Sitemap: http://your site/sitemap.xml

Http://your site/sitemap.xml - path to the site map.

Generator Mysitemapgenerator

1. First of all, go to the site mysitemapgenerator.com This service allows you to generate free card XML website, up to 500 pages. More than enough.

3. In the "Site URL" field, enter the address of your website.

4. Enter verification code, and press the start button.

5. Once the scan is complete, click on the "download sitemap" link.



The downloaded file must be renamed to "sitemap". Then all that remains is to put it in the root of the site and provide the address to search engines.

2.4. How to add a sitemap to search engines

To add a sitemap to your website, you must complete the following steps:

1. To connect to the server you will need any FTP client. The example will use FileZilla. Open the program and enter the necessary data to connect to the server via FTP:


This information can be obtained from your hosting provider.

1. Go to root folder your site (the folder where all resource files are located) and add your sitemap.xml there. It can be done double click mouse or simply by dragging the file to the next window. When asked about replacement existing file, choose replace.

2. Next, go to your browser at site.ru/sitemap.xml and check your location required file. If according to to this address your sitemap.xml is missing, perhaps you moved it to the wrong folder, or you just need to refresh the page.

2.5. Adding a sitemap to Yandex

To report search robot Yandex about the presence of a sitemap.xml file on your website, there are two most effective ways:

1. Add a sitemap via robots.txt. To do this, you need to make a change to this file, adding the directive:

Sitemap: your_site/sitemap.xml

2. Add a sitemap via Yandex.Webmaster.To use this method, rights to manage the site must be confirmed.

Let's go to the Yandex webmaster panel, go to the desired site and in the “Indexing settings” tab select “ Sitemaps».


To achieve the fastest effect, it is recommended to perform both actions.

2.6. Adding a sitemap to Google

This can be done in the following way: go to “Scanning”, click “Sitemap Files”:


in the right top corner Click on the red button “Add/check sitemap file”. In the window that opens, enter sitemap.xml. And then, before sending the blog map, it’s better to check it for errors, so click the Check Sitemap button:


Afterwards the message “Check completed”, “View scan results” will appear. Let's see, if there are no errors, then the picture will be like this:

Here, dear friends, is the whole process. And with this I say goodbye to you, not for long. I really hope that the instructions will be useful to you. Good luck and all the best.

Don't forget to write your comment if you liked the article. A few words from you, and for me - recognition from search engines that I write normal human articles. Thank you in advance!

Good day.

We continue the description of plugins for CMS WordPress from and today we will talk about how create xml sitemap using a plugin Google XML Sitemaps— my opinion is that it should be installed on every website in mandatory. Let's touch on the topic online file generators sitemap.xml and what to do with a site map after its creation.

Let's figure it out first what's happened xml sitemap and why is this even needed:

XML Sitemap– this is a kind of site map, specially “sharpened” for search engines such as Google and Yandex and other equally important search engines. Extension of this map - .xml- made specifically so that search engines can read the information located there. And there are all the links on your site that you allowed for indexing.

From this follows the purpose of an xml sitemap - you need to create it so that search engines can quickly index the pages and materials you need on the site.

In order to delete pages you don’t need, such as tags, categories, etc. (that is, everything that leads to duplicate content) from the search engine index - You must configure your file robots.txt, but more on that in other articles.

Returning to our topic, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, as a rule, a site map is in the format “ XML » is being created for search engines, « HTML " Site Map - for your visitors. Please don't confuse these 2 " concepts».

If you want to make a sitemap in html format (this is a map for your visitors), read the description best WordPress plugin for this purpose – – look at the page “ All blog articles" - my website.

If you don't know how to find ID pages, posts, categories, etc. that you may need to configure DDSitemapGen, Google XML Sitemaps, etc. plugins. – read about the plugin - .

I will answer a possible question - “ Which one to create, xml or html map website?»

Answer– both cards are needed for the reasons stated above.

I would like to note that after creating the xml map of your site, and correct settings robots.txt, a reduction in the time it takes new articles to get into Google index and Yandex.

And finally, I would like to give an example of some research in the field of website promotion, which clearly shows that the absence of an xml sitemap significantly affects indexing and, accordingly, the placement of resource pages in search results. See screenshot below:

I am dividing the article into 3 parts:

1. How to create and configure xml sitemap using the Google XML Sitemaps plugin for WordPress sites.

2. Online file generators sitemap.xml

3. What to do after creating the file sitemap.xml

1. Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress plugin for creating a sitemap sitemap.xml

  • Change frequencies:

This parameter allows you to configure the frequency of search engine robot visits to your site. Read the attached information carefully, and, as an option, you can configure it as in the screenshot:

  • Priorities:

Set priorities for each page as you wish; you can leave the default settings. The main thing is not to lower the priority of the main page in relation to other pages on the site.

All! This ends WordPress setup Google XML Sitemaps plugin. Don't forget to save all selected settings by clicking on the appropriate button.

You can check whether an xml map of your site has been created by writing the following in your browser line: “ http://your_site.ru/sitemap.xml " The XML map should look something like the image below:

Write in the comments what other settings you use to create xml sitemap maybe I missed something...

2. Online Sitemap XML generators

Below is a list online services to generate the file sitemap.xml:

  • — simple, at first glance online XML generator sitemap, but pay attention to the structure of the resulting map - there may be links to pictures or unnecessary pages.
  • - this online generator, when creating a map, takes into account the tag “ noindex" You can specify links to pages that you do not want to be indexed. Again, links to pictures, etc. may also be included in the structure.
  • - this is a more successful service for our business. Takes into account the prohibitions specified in the file robots.txt, tag " noindex" You can use paid and free option. For the free one, there is a limit to generating 3 XML maps per day and does not allow you to download more than 500 pages. You can set up a specific filter and exclude links that contain pictures. IN paid version– more filters.

You can familiarize yourself with these services and find out more detailed information on their pages.

Advice! Try to create a file sitemap.xml using the Google XML Sitemaps plugin, if that doesn’t work, you can use online generators or ask a question in the comments.

3. What to do after creating the sitemap.xml file

If you remember what is written above, then you already know that the map needs to be shown to the main search engines so that they can correctly scan your site.

To begin with, you must register your site with these same search engines: and <<< read detailed articles on how to do this.

  • How to add a sitemap sitemap.xml to Google

Log in to your Google Webmaster account -> Scanning -> Sitemaps-> red button " Adding/Verifying a Sitemap File».

Write the name of the file in the required field, do not forget to indicate the extension .xml.

  • How to add a sitemap sitemap.xml to Yandex

Log in to your Yandex.Webmaster account -> Setting Up Indexing -> Sitemaps.

First check the map file for errors. You can do this using the link you will find there - “ Validator »

If no errors are found, we return to the page for adding a map in the webmaster’s account.

Enter the new card address and click “ Add».

Please note that Yandex crawls your card once every two weeks - according to official data.

Follow the blog news and learn how to properly create and configure this file for proper indexing of your site by search robots.

Finally, I would like to say that even though the presence of a file sitemap.xml on the site – does not greatly affect the indexing of the site and its inclusion in search results, but helps significantly with this. Don't be lazy, make your card and forget about it.

With the hope that this article has helped you in solving your problems, let me finish it by reminding you that questions can be asked in the comments and the social network buttons are located below.

Greetings, dear readers of the blog site. Let me immediately note that to create a blog map we will need not one plugin, but two. The first of them, under Google name XML Sitemaps, will create a file in XML format, which will then be fed to search engines (by adding a link to it in the Yandex and Google Webmaster panels, which I wrote about and).

The second plugin, called Dagon Design Sitemap Generator, will create a sitemap for your blog visitors, something like this. It will help make your resource more transparent for visitors, i.e. This will make it easier for them to move between materials and find the posts they need.

Features of creating a map in WordPress

As you can see from the figure, the project built on Joomla (about four months old) is still indexed quite unevenly by different search engines. While the blog site, built on WordPress (it was less than a month old at that time), was fully indexed by all search engines. This example, it seems to me, clearly shows the effectiveness of using of this extension to speed up and guarantee indexing.

Well, read about Dagon Design Sitemap Generator.

Good luck to you! Before see you soon on the pages of the blog site

You can watch more videos by going to
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What is of paramount importance is what position the site occupies in search engine results. To a large extent, the positions occupied by a site depend on timely indexing of pages. Google search engines, Yandex and others quickly find and index new pages of our site using the most important plugin for WordPress - Google XML Sitemaps.This plugin creates in XML format site map for search engines. A site map for search engines is nothing more than a list of site pages that is indexed by search engines Yandex, Google, etc. With a site map, search engines require much less time to recognize a new article and index it. Thanks to the site map, search engine robots quickly learn about the appearance of a new article and any other change on the site. This question is the most important, so we will consider it in detail.

We start searching and downloading the Google XML Sitemaps plugin by opening the search page WordPress plugins via button WordPress. org in the pop-up window at the top left of our website (Figure 1).

Picture 1. WordPress Button. Org

On the WordPress page that opens (Figure 2) in search bar enter the name of the plugin wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/ and press "Enter" or directly follow the link http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator .

Figure 2. WordPress page/Russian

On the page with the plugin that opens Google XML Sitemaps(Figure 3) press the button Download Version 3.2.8.(download version 3.2.8.).

Figure 3. Google XML Sitemaps plugin page

A file download window will open (Figure 4). Press the button "Save". Select a location on your computer and save the file to ZIP format(Figure 5).

Figure 4. File upload window

Figure 5. Plugin file download location

Installing the plugin

The installation of some plugins was discussed in detail earlier in the article. Let's repeat some points here. Google XML Sitemaps plugin downloaded and saved in my case in the folder "Plugins". Now you need to install it on the site and configure it. For this we go Console—> Plugins—> Add new (Figure 6) and get into the section "Install plugins"(Figure 7). Press the button "Download".

Figure 6. Console

Figure 7. “Install plugins” section

Instead of recording "Search"(Figure 7) entry opens “Install plugin in ZIP format”(Figure 8). Press the button "Review", look for the previously saved plugin file and double click insert it into the window with the button "Review". Press the button "Install".

Figure 8. Plugin installation window

The plugin is installed (Figure 9). Now press the button "Activate" and activate our installed plugin.

Figure 9. “Installed plugins” section

Plugin setup

Let's go Console—> Options and in the pop-up list we find our installed plugin XML Sitemap(Figure 10).

Figure 10. Section “Console-parameters”

Click on the button XML Sitemap, a record appears (Figure 11) “The sitemap wasn’t generated yet”(the site map has not yet been generated). Click "Click here".

Figure 11. Information that the site map has not yet been built

Result of the last build process…

The information window of the plugin opens (Figure 12), with information about the successful construction of the site map, informing the main search engines about this, the time it took to build and update it, the amount of hard disk space occupied, and the time spent on its construction. Here you can manually update the sitemap file.

Figure 12. Plugin information window

Basic parameters

Here you need to note the necessary points for building and updating the site map. Usually, they are set by default, so we don’t change anything (Figure 13).

Figure 13. Basic parameters

Article priority

We indicate how the priority of the article will be calculated by search engines. (Figure 14). I usually point out "Do not use automatic priority calculation" and determined according to section "Priorities" below in the text.

Figure 14. Article priority

Location of your sitemap file

By mark « Automatic detection» the detected path and URL to the file with the site map are recorded (Figure 15).

Figure 15. Location of the site map file

This specifies which pages are added to the sitemap. Paragraph "Enable Categories" We mark only if the site is not filled with content. In general, the necessary items are marked by default and there is no need to mark additional ones, as this will lead to duplication of content and, as a result, to possible sanctions from search engines.

Figure 16. Contents of the site map

Excluded items

You can exclude categories, as well as articles or pages from the sitemap by entering their identifiers (ID).

Figure 17. Exclude items

Change frequencies

We set the frequency we need for search engines to visit the site map. Of course, robots work according to their own algorithms, so whether our wishes will be taken into account or not remains a question.

Hourly – hourly;

Daily – daily;

Weekly – weekly;

Monthly – monthly;

Yearly – once a year;

Always - always;

Never - never.

Figure 18. Change in frequency of site visits by robots

Priorities

We set the priority of pages from 0 to 1. I have for « Home page» And "Articles" stamped value 1.0.

After setting up the google xml sitemaps plugin, click on the button "Update settings."

Figure 19. Setting page priorities

So, a sitemap has been created using the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. Now, when you create a new article or page, they will immediately be reflected as a URL in the list of this map and will appear for indexing by search engines (Google, Ask, Bing). The map will not be displayed on the site itself, but it can be viewed at the following address: http://our site/sitemap.xml.

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Hi all! Today’s article is for those who blog on WordPress and use the Google XML Sitemaps plugin to generate an XML sitemap. On March 30, 2014 the plugin was updated to new version 4.0. Visually, the map now doesn’t look quite familiar to search engines. What to do - look for an alternative or leave it as it is? Don't panic, let's figure it out.

For those who do not know what it is and why it is needed at all, read the article ““. There you will also find information on installing and configuring the plugin version 3.x. It may come in handy if for some reason you are using WordPress 3.2 or lower.

Attention! The Google XML Sitemaps 4.0 plugin requires PHP 5.1 and WordPress 3.3. It will not work with lower versions.

Obviously, the plugin developers are not stupid people and if they believe that they are creating the correct sitemap.xml, then they can be trusted. The new format is officially supported by Google.

Benefits of a new format for creating a dynamic XML sitemap

  • Search engines do not process maps with more than 50,000 URLs and 10 MB of weight. Now this problem does not exist for large portals, since instead of one huge static sitemap.xml file, many small dynamic sub-maps are used. For each type of content (posts, pages, categories), its own xml files are created, sorted by month.
  • Fewer resources are used on the server side since there is no need to generate a huge file.
  • Small files load faster than one large one.
  • Search engines see when a particular sub-map has been changed and scan only it without making unnecessary movements.

After the update, the sitemap looks like this:

And here's how it was before:

What should those who do not want to use new format? Look for an alternative. For example, make an XML card using the All in One Seo Pack plugin or WordPress SEO by Yoast. For the rest we will continue.

Installing the Google XML Sitemaps plugin (version 4.0.4)

Download current version plugin can be found at the link http://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator. Then we go to the blog admin area along the path “Plugins” - “Add new” and click the “Upload” button.

Select the downloaded zip archive on your computer and click “Install”.

Activate the plugin and go to settings.

Updating Google XML Sitemaps from version 3.x to 4.0.4

If old version If you have already installed it, then to update it you need to do two steps.

1. Go to the WordPress admin area and update in the standard way.

2. Most likely, you have already taken this step a long time ago. However, the map itself has not been updated. Therefore, we go to “Settings” – “XML-Sitemaps” and see a red warning message. It says that the hosting contains sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz files, which must be deleted manually or automatically by clicking on the link.

After this, you will see a message that the files have been deleted.

In fact, this is not the case, they are still in the blog folder, but under different names: sitemap.backup.xml and sitemap.backup.xml.gz. I advise you not to delete it yet, in case they come in handy again.

Now you can configure the plugin.

Setting up Google XML Sitemaps

Go to the “Settings” – “XML-Sitemaps” page. To make it clearer, I used the translator in the Google Chrome browser. Next, do everything as in the screenshots. I will explain some points below.

Basic parameters

To inform search engines about changes to the site Google systems and Bing, check the first two boxes.

If you have a robots.txt file on your hosting, and you must have one, then remove the third checkbox. But don’t forget to manually enter a link to the sitemap of the view in robots http://your_site/sitemap.xml.

You can check the box “ Include sitemap in HTML format” (Include an HTML sitemap). In this case, the card will be available via additional address your_site/sitemap.html . Just don't confuse it with. This one is specifically for search engines and looks like this:

Here you can add additional pages that do not belong to the blog. I don't need it.

Article priority

By default, the item “ Number of comments“but I install” Do not use automatic priority calculation“. In this case, all posts will have the same priority, which can be set in the appropriate section below. If comments on the site are disabled, then even more so we do like me.

Here we mark the types of web pages that we want to display in the XML map. Be sure to check the bottom box “ Include the last modification time” (Add date last change). Search engines can use this information to re-index changes in a timely manner.

Excluded Items

Here you can exclude entire categories or individual web pages by ID.

Change frequencies

We indicate how often search engines should scan. But they will still do everything their own way.

Priorities

There is no need to change anything here. Perhaps reduce the values ​​for temporary archives, tags and author archives - anyway, they are usually closed from indexing.

After all the changes, we finish setting up Sitemap.xml by clicking on the blue button “ Update settings“.

Adding a Sitemap file to search engines

Attention! Add only the main one index file sitemap.xml. Search engines will scan the rest of the sub-maps automatically.

If you have already added the map to search engines, then this must be done again for Google, and Yandex must re-index everything itself.

For Google

Go to Webmaster Tools, select the desired site and go to the “Crawling” - “Sitemap Files” page. Find the link to your file and click on it.

At the next stage, we will find out when the file was sent and processed for the last time, as well as information about errors, if any. In the upper right corner, click on the big red button “ Resend Sitemap“.

We see the following message.

Let's go a little lower and watch how all our sub-cards are processed.

In a few minutes, all “Pending” statuses will change to the processing date. Next, make sure that there are all dashes in the “Problems” column. The “Elements” column shows the actual number of pages that each sub-file contains. Values ​​in the column “ Indexed” must match the number of pages submitted. Indexing URLs does not happen immediately; Google needs some time for this.

For Yandex

Yandex does not have the ability to resend the file; it itself will re-index it over time. But just in case, you can check.

We go to Yandex.Webmaster along the path “ Setting up indexing” – “ Sitemap files “. Click the “Check” button.

If there are no errors, then wait until Yandex scans it new map. This usually happens once every two weeks.

That's all. There is a lot of text, but all this is done within a few minutes. If you decide not to change the Google XML Sitemaps plugin, then this article will be useful to you. You can save it to “Bookmarks”.

P.S. What do you think is better to use to create a correct XML sitemap - a plugin from Google or the built-in modules of the All in One Seo Pack, WordPress SEO and the like plugins? Have your say in the comments, don't be shy.