Sitemap XML File
Contents
Sitemap XML File
The Sitemap protocol provides an automatic way to tell Google, Yahoo!, Bing (formerly Live Search) and Ask all at once about new or edited pages on your site.
Google created this functionality, then worked with Yahoo!, Ask and Microsoft to make it a standard protocol that all four Search Engines can use.
WorldSubmitter creates a sitemap file for your SBI! site, locating it at the "root level" of your Web site. This is an XML file, in the Sitemaps.org protocol format, that contains information about all the pages on your site. This file is updated if you add, delete or edit a page on your site.
To start the process, you submit your site to Google, and ping (inform) the other 3 engines the first time (see the instructions below for each engine).
Note
Yahoo!, and occasionally Ask, sometimes has problems with this process. Yahoo! will give you an error message instead of a success message after pinging. This is a problem at Yahoo!'s end. Your only option is to continue pinging, about once a day or so, until you see the success message. The same holds true for Ask. And Ask visits the sitemap file very irregularly. It could be a month or more before the initial visit.
Then WorldSubmitter takes over. It automatically pings Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask once per day (if you've built, edited or deleted a page), alerting them to changes on your site. This tells the SE spiders to "come and get" all your pages and update their indexes with your new, edited, and deleted pages.
You can also use WorldSubmitter, through Priority Build It!, to adjust the sitemap XML file to tell the Search Engines which pages are more important, relative to all the other pages on your site. Click here for more information.
Why Is the Sitemap Important?
The sooner the SEs know about your pages, the sooner they come and spider them. The sitemap file alone doesn't guarantee that the spiders will come sooner or often, though. That's why WorldSubmitter pings the engines regularly.
Important
The sitemap file does not guarantee that the engines will index all your pages. Nor will it influence rankings for your keywords at any of the SEs. High rankings depend on the delivery of great content pages with properly positioned keywords.
Once you start your site (by building your home page), WorldSubmitter creates and installs your Sitemap file in the root directory of your site.
All you have to do to get the ball rolling? Let Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask know about it. You don't need to wait until you have 30 or more pages. In fact, the sooner you do it, the sooner the engines will know about your site! Let's go...
Submit Your Sitemap File to Google
Google's process requires site ownership verification before you can submit your sitemap URL. However, Google also states that it is not necessary to submit your sitemap there if you ping Google (which SBI! does for you) or if your sitemap URL is in your robots.txt file (which SBI! also does). So, if you aren't interested in the stats that Google Webmaster Tools can provide, then you don't need to submit the sitemap to Google.
Important Note
If you submit your sitemap URL after building your home page, you may receive an error message stating that your file is missing an XML tag. If that happens, and for Google only, submit your sitemap URL after building your first TIER 2 page.
Also, Google frequently changes the process and layout inside Webmaster Tools. If what you see there does not match the instructions below, please report the discrepancies to SiteSell Support. Then follow Google's instructions.
STEP 1 -- Log into Google Webmaster Tools
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login
- Log into Google Webmaster Tools.
- Click on the Add a site... button.
- In the text box that appears, enter your site URL and click Continue.
If you don't have an AdSense account, and don't use Gmail, you'll need to create an account by clicking on the Create a Google Account link.
STEP 2 -- Submit Your Site URL
If you don't see a URL on the Home page, which is the default page after logging in, Google doesn't know about your site.
If you don't see your site's URL there, click on Add a site.... A text box will appear on the page (see the screenshot below). Use the full URL (ex., http://www.your-domain-name.com/), like this...
STEP 3 -- Verification
On the next page, you need to verify ownership of your site. Select HTML file from the menu. Google will show you a file name...
- Highlight and copy the HTML code on the left.
- Open a text editor (NotePad, TextEdit) and paste in the code.
- On the Google page, copy the file name provided by Google.
- Save the text file, pasting in the file name copied from the Google page.
- In Site Central, click on Upload Your Own HTML Page.
- Click on the Browse button (Choose File if using Safari) and select the saved file. Select No if you have RSS turned on. Click on Upload Your HTML.
- Ignore the error messages. Click on the Click Here to Continue to Step 3 link.
- Scroll down the page and click on Build It! to build the page.
- Return to the Google page and click on the link to test the verification file.
- If the test succeeds, click on Verify.
Leave the Google page open for now. You will come back and copy the file name in a moment.
Next, select the HTML code below by clicking on the Highlight All button. Then copy it (Ctrl-C -- Command-C on a Mac).
Open your text editor (Notepad in Windows or TextEdit on a Mac) and paste in the source code you just copied.
Important Note for Mac Users: If you usually use TextEdit in RTF (Rich Text Format), click on Format in the menu, then select Make Plain Text before pasting in the code.
Return to the Google verification page and copy the file name that starts with "google" and ends with ".html" (Ctrl-C/Command-C). An example is highlighted in red in the screenshot above).
Back in your text editor, select Save As and select All Files as the file type to save the text file that contains the HTML code (Mac users: you can use Save or Save As). Name it by pasting the verification file name that you just copied from Google into the text box where you normally type in a file name. Save the file to your desktop.
Important: Double-triple-quadruple-check that your file name is IDENTICAL to what Google specified, or else Google will NOT be able to verify your site. Ensure you have included the ".html" extension, and have no spaces before or after the name.
Next, upload this page using SBI!'s Upload Your Own HTML module. If you have only ever used the block-by-block SiteBuilder, don't worry -- this is super-easy. Follow the Directions for Use just above.
Important: Be sure to select No if you have activated RSS/Blog It! for your site. If you don't, the verification file will appear in your RSS feed and on your Blog It! page.
Back in the Google Sitemaps window, click on the URL to your verification file to view it. If you see a blank white page, Google can access the file. If you want to be extra certain, look at the title at the top of your browser window. It should say "Google Verification."
Click on the Verify button to verify your URL.
Important
If Google cannot find the verification HTML page, it will return an error message at the top of the page...
Once Google verifies ownership, you can proceed with submitting your sitemap.
STEP 3 -- Submit Your Sitemap URL
- On the Home page, click on your domain name. On the Dashboard page, click on Submit a Sitemap in the bottom right corner.
- Copy the sitemap file name in the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ.
- Paste it into the text box. Click on Submit Sitemap.
On the Home page, click on your domain name. You are then taken to the Dashboard page. In the bottom right of that page, click on Submit a Sitemap. Leave that page open. You will be returning to it in a moment.
Go to the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ (SE HQ), found in the TrafficCenter in Site Central, and carefully select (highlight) and copy (Ctrl-C -- Command-C on a Mac) only your sitemap's file name, beginning after the final slash ("/") and ending with ".xml". Do not include your domain name, as Google provides that.
For example, the owner of anguilla-beaches.com would highlight and copy only...
OnrvZpiT.xml
Return to the Google page and paste the file name (Ctrl-V/Command-V) into the text box that you activated. Ensure that there are no extra spaces before or after the file name you paste in.
Click on Submit Sitemap to submit it.
On the next page, Google will confirm that you submitted your sitemap successfully. Back on the Home page, you will see your sitemap's file name in the bottom right corner.
That's it. You're done at Google. SBI! will now take over, letting Google know whenever you make changes to your site.
Ping Your Sitemap File to Yahoo!
Before pinging your sitemap URL, you should submit your home page to Yahoo!. If you do not yet have an account, you will have to set one up before you have access to the submission page.
https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
You can submit your Sitemap XML file this way from here as well. However, you should also return to this help to ping the Sitemap URL, as outlined below, as this is a standardized and accepted method promoted by the sitemaps.org site.
STEP 1 -- Create the Manual Ping URL
Select and copy the following code and paste it into a text file (ex., NotePad or TextEdit)...
http://search.yahooapis.com/SiteExplorerService/V1/ping?sitemap=
- Select (highlight) and copy the code (in bold, above) and paste it into a text file.
- In SE HQ, copy the entire XML URL. Paste it into the text file, at the end of the code already there.
- Select the entire code, and copy it.
- Paste it into the address bar of your Web browser. Press Enter/Return on your keyboard.
Select and copy your sitemap URL from the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ.
Ensure there are no spaces before or after the URL.
Paste it to the end of the code in the text file.
Highlight the entire text string in the text file and copy it.
It should look like this...
http://search.yahooapis.com/SiteExplorerService/V1/ping?sitemap=http://www.anguilla-beaches.com/OnrvZpiT.xml
STEP 2 -- Ping the URL Through Your Browser
Paste the URL you just created into the address bar of your browser and press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard.
Yahoo! will then confirm the success of your sitemap submission. If you see a success message, you're done at Yahoo!. SBI! will now take over, letting Yahoo! know whenever you make changes to your site. If you receive an error message, try again in a few hours.
Special Yahoo! Note
Yahoo!, like Google, has an optional feature that allows you to learn more about how Yahoo! sees your site. Called Yahoo! Site Explorer, it also allows you to manually submit your sitemap file to Yahoo!
Three weeks after you first submit your site and ping your sitemap to Yahoo!, click on the Update It! button at the top of the Keyword Ranking Report column in SE HQ. After you receive an "update completed" e-mail, check the Submit-Spider-List Report's Yahoo! column for your home page and TIER 2 pages. If none of them has had a visit from Yahoo!'s spider, use Site Explorer to manually submit your sitemap file. Don't want to wait? You can submit it immediately.
To do so, or to access the additional information that Yahoo! provides, you first have to perform a few extra steps...
Ping Your Sitemap File to Bing
You can also submit your sitemap in Bing's Webmaster Tools system.
STEP 1 -- Create the Manual Ping URL
Select and copy the following code into and paste it into a text file in NotePad/TextEdit.
http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=
- Select (highlight) and copy the code (in bold, above) and paste it into a text file.
- In SE HQ, copy your enitre sitemap URL, beginning with "http://" and paste it into the text file, at the end of the code already there.
- Select the entire code, and copy it.
- Paste it into the address bar of your Web browser. Press Enter/Return on your keyboard.
Then copy the full sitemap URL, beginning with "http://", from the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ.
The owner of anguilla-beaches.com would copy the following...
"http://www.anguilla-beaches.com/OnrvZpiT.xml"
Paste the sitemap URL to the end of the string in your text file.
The URL should then look like this...
http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=http://www.anguilla-beaches.com/OnrvZpiT.xml
STEP 2 -- Ping the URL Through Your Browser
Paste the URL you just created into the address bar of your browser and press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard.
Note
You can do this while on any Web page. You do not need to be on the Bing site.
Bing will then confirm success with the following message...
"Thanks for submitting your sitemap."
Special Bing Note
Like Google and Yahoo!, Bing also offers optional Webmaster Tools. To learn how to access those tools, read this help.
Ping Your Sitemap File to Ask
Ask's submission process is very simple.
STEP 1 -- Create the Manual Ping URL
Select and copy the following code and paste it into a text file in NotePad/TextEdit.
http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http%3A//
- Select (highlight) and copy the code (in bold, above) and paste it into a text file.
- In SE HQ, copy your sitemap URL, beginning with "www." Paste it into the text file, at the end of the code already there.
- Select the entire code, and copy it.
- Paste it into the address bar of your Web browser. Press Enter/Return on your keyboard.
Then copy your sitemap URL, beginning with "www.", from the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ.
Do not copy the "http://" as Ask needs it in a special format.
For example, the owner of anguilla-beaches.com would copy the following...
"www.anguilla-beaches.com/OnrvZpiT.xml"
Paste the sitemap URL to the end of the string in your text file.
The URL should then look like this...
http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http%3A//www.anguilla-beaches.com/OnrvZpiT.xml
Select (highlight) the entire text string, ensuring that you do not include any spaces before or after the URL. Copy the highlighted code.
STEP 2 -- Ping the URL Through Your Browser
Paste the URL you just created into the address bar of your browser and press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard.
Note
You can do this while on any Web page. You do not need to be on the Ask site.
Ask will then confirm the success of your sitemap submission. If you see a success message, you're done at Ask. SBI! will now take over, letting Ask know whenever you make changes to your site. If you receive an error message, try again a few hours later.