Do yourself a favor and submit an XML sitemap to Google. In case you are not aware, in most cases, Google will bring you the lion’s share of visitor traffic. Like 65% or more. So, I’m all for at the very least submitting to Google.

Let me emphasize that Google allows you to notify them via your Google Webmaster control panel that you have uploaded the XML sitemap into your root folder. Each search engine handles submission differently.

Here is all the information on Google you’ll need to know about setting up a Webmaster account (easy to do), and how to verify it (using an XML sitemap) and much more: Google Webmaster Information. Look under the category “Using Webmaster Tools” and then “Verification”. There you will learn how to submit an XML sitemap.

Briefly, Google will provide you, right there in your Webmaster control panel, a unique file name for your XML file; you will create the file and upload it into your website’s root directory; and then you’ll click a box in your Webmaster control panel that says “Yes, I have uploaded an XML sitemap”.

How to Submit to Yahoo!

Yahoo! handles it differently. You can make a unique XML file just for Yahoo!, upload it into your site’s root directory and then go here to submit your site’s URL to Yahoo!: Submit Site to Yahoo!
You’ll see two choices:
1) Submit a Website or a Webpage – skip this option.
2) Submit a Site Feed – this is what you want. (Please note under this option it says you can submit an XML sitemap.)

MSN Does Not Accept XML Sitemaps but Here’s What to Do

You have to depend upon MSN’s web crawler, MSNBot, to find your site all by itself. However if your site does not appear on Live Search, you can easily send them your site’s address (URL). Because MSN does not accept XML sitemap submissions, go here MSN Live Search and enter in your site’s URL. That’s it!

How to Generate (or Make) an XML Sitemap File

You’re in luck! There are a number of free online sitemap generating tools that allow you to quickly make one. Search online and check out a few of the sites to find a tool you feel comfortable using (some allow a more detailed file to be generated). Most sites have clear information on how to go about the process.

After you generate the XML file, you’ve got to upload it into your site’s root directory. (Sorry but I’m not going to go into explaining how to do that in this post.) Again, follow all the steps for each search engine after you’ve uploaded each file.

That’s about it. After you’re done … you ought to see your site ranking in the search engines. This can happen as fast as a day, or a bit longer. But exactly what position(s) you rank for … well that’s up to all the other SEO factors that are taken into consideration. Good luck!

What is An XML Sitemap? An HTML Sitemap?

Understanding the Difference Between an XML and an HTML Sitemap

I’ve previously posted about how my friend’s mini-site was holding a top-ten Google ranking within 24-hrs after I submitted an XML sitemap to Google. That situation just proved to me once again that an XML sitemap can be a real benefit to help kick-start the Google spiders to come and visit. Now of course the ranking position was the result of my keyword research and SEO optimization I performed on her pages. She could have been #100. The point I am making is that the XML sitemap got her spidered and indexed quickly.

Anyway let me get back to discussing XML versus HTML sitemaps and the differences between the two. As a website owner, you should understand what they are, and that each one serves a very different purpose for your site.

HTML Sitemaps

An HTML sitemap is normally a contextual hyperlink listing of the information architecture of your website. In other words, it is a listing of every page found on your site, composed of clickable links that point to every page on your site.

Most people use the Title tag for the hyperlink listing of each page. In addition, some people make theirs more like an index in a book (an A-Z listing); other people may set theirs up with brief explanations after each page listing. I kind of fall inbetween, in that I try to alphabetize the listings since it helps keep a clean format, but I also come up with creative one-line explanations that may not necessarily be the exact page title.

Let me stress that I adhere to sound SEO principles in that I utilize the keyword phrase of each page in my listings. To see what I am talking about, take a look at the sitemap on this site: SEO-Innovation.com Site Map

An HTML sitemap certainly helps facilitate the navigation process for the visitors to your website. Although an HTML sitemap enhances the user-friendliness of your site, it also helps the spiders that come crawling to index your site. The HTML sitemap really is like a road map of your entire site that you’ve kindly stuck under their noses.

Don’t ignore the effectiveness of placing a sitemap on your site. Not only does it help a bit in your rankings by providing internal cross-linking of your site, but it also helps your visitor find a page they can’t find via your navagation links, etc. and again helps the spiders know about every page on your site.

Be aware that 100 hyperlinks is the recommended maximum for a web page, so if you have a 300 page site, then at a minimum you’d have a three page sitemap. If it was me … I’d break it into at least 5 pages, making it easier for the human visitor to scan.

I also adhere to an alphabetical listing of the second tier pages, with the third tiers listed under the respective second tier category if possible, again to facilitate your visitor sifting through everything to find the page they were looking for. Such as this example on one of my other websites, The-Artistic-Garden.com. An alphabetical listing is not possible on this SEO site, as the site map page is auto-generated by the blog platform.

XML Sitemaps

XML sitemaps are used to faciliate the indexing process of your website. At this time, only Google and Yahoo! allow a unique XML file to be placed in your site’s directory to help with their indexing. Each search engine has instructions as to how to generate the uniquely named file, where to place it, and then how to notify them that you have carried out the procedure.

To learn more about XML sitemaps and how to go about making an XML file and submitting to Google, Yahoo and MSN, please refer to my post: Submitting XML Sitemaps

Understand this important point: Having an XML Sitemap for your site will not guarantee that your web pages will be indexed in search engines (showing up in the SERPs); nor will an XML sitemap cause a higher ranking of your pages in the search engines.

In addition, I must stress that an XML sitemap DOES NOT TAKE THE PLACE of a proper SEO-friendly site structure! If your site suffers from horrible coding issues; bad information architecture; lack of keyword focused content; or any other umpteen possible negatives … don’t keep your fingers crossed that an XML sitemap, or even an HTML sitemap, will somehow “fix” things. Because they won’t.

Sometimes SEO Efforts Are Instantly Rewarded

A Top Ten Ranking in Google for a Main Keyword Phrase Within 24 Hours!

You know it sure can be gratifying to see the fruits of my SEO labor almost instantly rewarded. I’m like most everyone else … we want it “now”. No matter what it is in life. And seeing rankings zoom into the top ten literally overnight is a pretty cool thing.

I’m quite accustomed to seeing dramatic rankings results within a week or two after I perform my search engine optimization techniques on clients’ sites, but every now and then I get a nice surprise and find that high rankings have been achieved within a day or two.

So what caused this quick recognition from Google? First, it was proper attention to the basic SEO details: keyword focused quality content; keyword focused Title tags and Description meta tags; my expertise … AND … I submitted an XML sitemap to Google to get the brand new website spidered immediately.

What is an XML sitemap? Briefly, an XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs available on a site. The aim is to help site owners notify search engines about the URLs on a website that are available for indexing. The sitemap lets the spiders know what is available on a website. Google paved the way with utilizing this XML protocol, and now Yahoo and Ask also accept XML sitemaps.

There are a number of things you have to understand about this subject, and you can read what I’ve written about XML sitemaps here. This post is not intended to teach you all the ins and outs.

So, by “manually” loading an XML sitemap into the root directory of my friend’s new mini-site, and then going into her Google Webmaster account to fill out the information that says “yes … a sitemap has been uploaded into this website’s root directory”, I alerted the Google spiders that it was time to come and visit her website.

Now, there is a lot of talk amongst SEO professionals as to the need for, use of or value of submitting an XML sitemap. However, I am of the feeling that at least in the very beginning stage(s) of launching a new website or blog, that an XML sitemap is of value. Why wouldn’t it be? It instantly alerts Google that you’re ready to be spidered. You don’t have to sit there, wondering when the spiders are going to come crawling your way.

In addition, in instances like what happened within 24-hours to my friend’s site, it PROVES to me the value of submitting a sitemap to Google (or the other search engines that allow the same).

So, if you have a brand new site, I would suggest you submit an XML sitemap to help move things along and to let the spiders know you want them to come and visit for awhile. Plus you never know, you might be in a position like my friend that you will be able to quickly grab a great ranking position.

Of course ranking positions depend upon the niche, the competition, and all that other “stuff” we have to take into consideration. Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying the XML file submission is guaranteed to produce magic results!

To learn more about Google’s requirements and what you need to do, go to Google’s Webmaster/Site Owners Help. Look under the category “Using Webmaster Tools” and then “Verification”. There you will learn how to submit an XML sitemap.