Will XML Sitemaps Soon be Obsolete?
It’s been discussed at great lengths whether or not XML Sitemaps are even needed anymore. Many people feel that if your website is properly set up, you shouldn’t even need an XML sitemap. So if XML sitemaps become obsolete, this marks a turning point in SEO history. And it’s actually a topic that comes up often in tech support.
Google's Software Mirrors Human Behavior
In recent years Google’s software is more “human,” as it were. In fact Google has become quite effective at simulating user behavior on a website and then incorporating this information into its ranking algorithms. Simply put, if your website is user-friendly and provides consumers with the information they seek on Google, it’s likely that it will rank well in the search results.
When creating your website, think about the keywords you want to target and how to translate them into an appropriate site layout.
You may construct structured links to all of your website’s pages using the internal linking tool in our Yoast SEO plugin, for example. Simply put, Google is capable of following all links and locating all pages. That signifies you’ve created an excellent foundation for search engines on your website. If you haven’t done this then it would benefit you a great deal to enlist some help, from our SEO experts at PushLeads. Call 828-348-7686 TODAY for your FREE consultation!
Then Why Should I Use XML Sitemaps?
Sitemaps, both HTML and XML, are useful when your website’s structure and internal linking structure aren’t up to par. When you’re dealing with a large, jumbled inheritance from the previous owner, years of creating (more or less unstructured) content, or just haven’t given internal links any care; your XML sitemap will likely come in handy.
XML sitemaps can improve the crawling of your website by a search engine bot in addition to pointing Google to all of your content. The last changed date should be included in XML sitemaps. This date will immediately tell a search engine which pages should be crawled and which pages haven’t changed since the last crawl and can be skipped.
This is a significant advantage of using XML sitemaps.
There’s a reason Google Search Console includes an XML sitemap component. Google likes to know everything there is to know about your website. They want to look at everything to see if there’s anything intriguing that will help them answer their users’ search queries.
Your XML sitemap acts as a map to all of the different points of interest (POIs) on your site, as well as all of the tourist attractions.
Yes, some of them are more intriguing than others. Last year, priority percentages were included in the XML sitemaps given by our plugin. Users of various plugins have requested the ability to change that percentage, but it never happened. Developers opted to delete the % entirely because it did not perform as expected — at least not on Google’s end. This underlines the fact that it is simply a list of pages. Nonetheless, it’s a useful list.
So Are XML Sitemaps Necessary?
Yes, I believe that an XML sitemap should be included on every website. XML sitemaps can be used to deliver a large number of links in a more readable style. It’s a method of ensuring that search engines find every page on your website, no matter how messed up it is. However, you should make every attempt to make that XML sitemap a bonus rather than a need.
If your website’s crawlability is dependent on your XML sitemap, you’ve got a much bigger problem on your hands.
However, you still have time to go back to the drawing board and engage in some keyword research. Reorganize the website. When re-visiting your most-visited pages, take the time to do internal linking; inject the appropriate links throughout your website, and improve the functionality of your website. Then after that, when the majority of your pages are accessible from the menu and also through the internal links you’ve embedded, count on that wonderful, cozy XML sitemap to feed Google any neglected leftovers and assist you in further optimizing your website.
Thank you for stopping by today. If you enjoyed this article you may also like: Common SEO Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
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