What Information is in an XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap can be published in either the XML format or in plain text. Most XML files that are computer-generated will be published in XML format. Regardless of the format, you’ll have the same options and requirements for what information to include about each URL in your sitemap:
Location
In the XML language, the tag is used to reference the location of a specific URL on your website. The URL should begin with the protocol, end with a trailing slash (if required by your web server) and must be less than 2,048 characters in length.
Last Modification
Your XML sitemap can optionally include the date of last modification for any or all of the pages on your website. Google crawlers may use information from here to determine whether you are the original author if your content is duplicated elsewhere on the web. Dates here are typically written in the W3C Datetime format of YYYY-MM-DD.
Change Frequency
Your XML sitemap can indicate to Google crawlers the frequency with which you expect a given page to change. This can give crawlers a hint as to how frequently they should crawl your pages to detect new changes. In the XML format, change frequency is referenced by the tag. Valid values include:
- Never
- Yearly
- Monthly
- Weekly
- Daily
- Hourly
- Always
Priority
Priority is the final optional data point that you can include in your XML sitemap. Priority values range from 0.0 to 1.0 with a default value of 0.5. Page priority is your own relative measure of how important a specific page is on your web site. It can help search engines determine which of your pages should appear on search engine rankings if multiple pages rank highly for the same keywords.
Directive Consulting’s Technical SEO Audit Optimizes Your XML Sitemap
The first and most important aspect of B2B search engine optimization is performing a technical SEO audit. Technical SEO audits to verify that your web site is technically optimized for SEO, including everything from duplicate content analysis to proper use of 301 redirects, fixing broken links, optimizing the linking structure, improving site speed and more.
XML sitemaps are also an important item to review for a technical SEO audit. Improving your XML sitemap, adding more information, prioritizing key pages, ensuring the file executes properly and submitting your XML sitemap to Google can help get more of your pages indexed and boost your rankings in the search results.
Want to learn more about how Directive Consulting can help improve your XML sitemaps for SEO? Get a free proposal now!