Sitemap XML File
The Sitemap protocol provides an automatic way to tell Google and Bing all at once about new or edited pages on your site.
Google created this functionality, then worked with Yahoo! and Microsoft to make it a standard protocol that all three Search Engines can use.
Important Note
Yahoo! no longer provides its own search results. Bing provides the results for Yahoo!, which it then customizes for its results pages.
Sitemap submissions made to Yahoo! are automatically sent to Bing, so we no longer provide instructions on how to submit your sitemap to Yahoo!.
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 the pages on your site. This file is updated if you add, delete or edit a page on your site.
WorldSubmitter automatically pings Google and Bing 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.
Note
Before WorldSubmitter can start, you need to submit your site and verify ownership of your site at Google and Bing. If you haven't already done that, use Verify It! to verify your ownership.
You can also increase the priority of certain pages in the sitemap XML file to tell the Search Engines that those 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. The file's name is sitemap.xml.
All you have to do to get the ball rolling? Let Google and Bing 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
Important Note
If you submit your sitemap URL after building only 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.
- Log into Google Webmaster Tools.
- On the Home page, click on your domain name. On the Dashboard page, click on Submit a Sitemap in the bottom right corner.
- Type sitemap.xml into the text box. Click on Submit Sitemap.
Log into Google Webmaster Tools. 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.
In the text box, type in sitemap.xml.
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 Bing
You can submit your sitemap in Bing's Webmaster Tools system while verifying ownership with Verify It!.
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 entire sitemap URL, beginning with "http://" and paste it into the text file, at the end of the code already there.
- Select the entire code in the text file, 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/sitemap.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/sitemap.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 Webmaster Tools site.
Bing will then confirm success with the following message...
"Thanks for submitting your sitemap."