Sitemap XML File
Sitemap XML File
Submit to Google
Submit to Yahoo!
Submit to Live Search
Submit to Ask
The Sitemap protocol provides an automatic way to tell Google, Yahoo!, 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 ping (inform) the engines the first time (see the instructions below for each engine).
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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!, Live Search 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.
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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. |
The SEs love sitemap files because they know that a human (not one of those oversubmitting bots that submit tons of engine spam) had to place that XML file at the root level of your Web site. Human submissions have great credibility.
It's the equivalent of a graphic-challenge submission (such as what you can add to your FBI! forms or Content 2.0 invitations). However, it's faster and much more convenient.
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!, Live Search 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 a login before you can submit your sitemap URL.
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Important Note Google's system currently has a bug. If you submit your sitemap URL after building your home page, you'll receive an error message stating that your file is missing an XML tag. For Google only, submit your sitemap URL after building your first TIER 2 page. |
STEP 1 -- Log into Google Webmaster Tools
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login
- Log into Google Webmaster Tools.
- Enter your site URL into the text box and click OK.
- Click on the Sitemaps tab at the top of the page.
- Click on Add a Sitemap. From the drop down menu, select Add General Web Sitemap.
- Copy and paste the sitemap file name into the text box that appears. Click on Add Web Sitemap to submit it.
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 Dashboard 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, add the URL of your home page in the Add Site field just below the Google logo, then click the Add Site button. Use the full URL (ex., http://www.your-domain-name.com/), like this...
On the Overview page, click on the Sitemaps tab at the top left of the page.
STEP 3 -- Submit Your Sitemap URL
Click on the Add a Sitemap text link to submit your sitemap. On the next page, click on the drop down menu and select Add General Web Sitemap. The page will refresh.
Go to the white section at the top of Search Engine HQ (SEHQ), found in the TrafficCenter in Site Central, and carefully select (highlight) and copy (Ctrl-C -- Command-C on a Mac) 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 for "3. My Sitemap URL is:". Ensure that there are no extra spaces before or after the file name you paste in.
Click on Add Web Sitemap to submit it.
On the next page, you should see the following message: "You have added a Sitemap to http://www.domain-name.com/. Reports may take several hours to update. Thank you for your patience!"
That's it. You're done at Google. SBI! will now take over, letting Google know whenever you make changes to your site.
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If you're the type who likes to keep close tabs on your site, or likes to study statistics, Google will give you access to its Webmaster Tools statistics and information. But you'll have to verify ownership of your site first before you can access them... For help performing this optional step, click here. Important: Do not try to verify your site ownership without first clicking the link above and reading the help file. SiteBuilder requires that you use the HTML method, not the meta tag method. |
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/submit
Yahoo! also allows you to submit your sitemap on that page. After you've submitted your home page, you can return and submit the sitemap URL. 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.
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Special Yahoo! Note Yahoo!, like Google, has an optional feature that allows you to learn more about how Yahoo! sees your site. Called 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 Live Search
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Live Search's sitemap submission process is part of its Webmaster Tools system, which is still in beta. This means that the instructions below could change. If what follows does not match Live Search's instructions, please report the discrepancies to SiteSell Support. |
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://webmaster.live.com/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://webmaster.live.com/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.
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Note You can do this while on any Web page. You do not need to be on the Live Search site. |
Live Search will then confirm success with the following message...
"Thanks for submitting your sitemap."
Like Google and Yahoo!, Live Search 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.
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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.
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