As we are close to enter into 2023, there have been a lot of updates from google in these past few months. There is a need to adapt to the new updates so that you can get your blog posts indexed by Google and if you are still using the old atom feed for your Blogger blog as a sitemap, then it is time to adapt to the new practice. in this article I will explain how to get the new XML sitemap for your Blogger blogs posts and also for pages and submit it to Google Search Console, Bing webmaster, and other search engines. A sitemap is crucial for a website or blog, it helps search engines find the available content and the site structure.
Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google which is helpful to control blogs. A sitemap is an XML file that contains the list of all posts and pages in your blog. Sitemap improves your blog crawling rate and it also helps search engines to index your blog posts. For you to get more organic click from Google search, Yahoo and Bing you must add sitemap to your blog so that your posts can appear on Google search when a visitors search for a related keyword to your posts. Submitting a sitemap to search engines will tell the search engines about your blog and its contents.
How generate a XML Sitemap for your blogger blog using robots.txt.
Whenever a search engine crawls your blog, first, it will interact with the robots.txt file of the website. This file contains rules for the search engine and the sitemap’s path. This XML sitemap helps these search engines navigate all the website’s content. Let’s generate a robots.txt file for the Blogspot that includes these sitemaps.
Enter the Homepage URL of your blog with HTTP or HTTPS://, don’t enter m=1.
Replace the https://example.com link with your blog name in the above URL. So, here we are going to see all the steps to submit Blogger sitemap (which contains all your blog URL) to Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and Yahoo. Note: These sitemaps will update whenever you publish something on your blog. You don’t need to update these sitemaps again and again.
After successfully creating a sitemap for a website, the sitemap must be submitted to main search engines manually. I will show you the step by step to submit sitemap to search engine sites. Submitting to Google, Bing, and Yahoo separately is worth it and does not take much time.
How does this XML sitemap works? When you publish a new post or page to the website, that page or post URL automatically fetches in the sitemap. And that sitemap ping to the search engine, “Hey search engine bot, what are you doing? I have a new page, index it“. The Search Engine replies, “ok, I’m coming to check the quality of the webpage and index it accordingly”. Then the search engine crawls new pages or posts.
Submitting sitemaps to Google.
The first step is to verify the site. Google will not accept any sitemap without approving the site it is designated for initially. You can skip this step if you have already verified ownership of your site in Google search Console.
Sign in to Google Webmaster Tools just like you log in into other Google features.
Press “Add a Site” or ''Start Now'' and provide the URL to Google site in the pop-up box. Then press continue.
On the page that opens afterwards, press the radio button right after “Add Meta Tag.”
Copy the Meta tag from the instructions box. We’ll use this later.
Open a new tab in the browser and open the site you wish to verify.
Press “More Actions” and click “Manage the Site” from the list.
Click the General from the tabs which is located right under Site Setting tab.
Now the Meta tag copied from the instructions box should be pasted in the place right next to Verification.
Save the changes.
Go to Webmaster Tools where the Meta tag was copied from.
Press Verify.
Submit Blogger XML sitemap to Google Search Console
· Log into your Google Search Console.
Click on > sitemaps
Enter sitemaps for posts and pages.
Copy and paste this sitemap for all posts > sitemap.xml
Copy and paste this sitemap for all pages > sitemap-pages.xml
You can also add atom XML Sitemap too. Copy and paste this atom xml sitemap on the same way for the above two sitemap you submitted earlier.
atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
Submit the above sitemaps one by one.
After the successful submission of the sitemap, a success message will appear. (If it results in an error, please refresh the page). Now all process is done, it might show the number of posts or pages of the website or show processing data.
· Click on "Submit Sitemap" button. Refresh the page.
That’s it. You’ve successfully submitted the sitemap to the Google Search Console. Remember the atom sitemap above will work for 500 blog posts.
If your blogger blog has more than 500 articles, then you need to submit one more sitemap with the following code (the steps to add sitemap is same).
atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=501&max-results=500
If you’ve more than 1000 posts, then you need to submit another sitemap with the following code.
atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1001&max-results=500
I hope you’ve successfully added the sitemap to Google. Leave a comment below if you have any problem adding sitemap to Google.
In my next post I will show you also the simple steps to add Blogger sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools and Yahoo. Please share this post with your friends on social media. Facebook, Twitter, What'sApp and Instagram
How To Create a Sitemap (and Why You Should)
All you need to get traffic is a beautiful website with a great homepage and awesome content.
Right? Wrong.
You need to do more.
Due to the increasing size and complexity of websites, search engines can’t keep track of the millions of materials on the internet — including yours.
It’s possible for fantastic content to be buried deep in your website where search engines can’t find it, especially if you have a larger website.
You created a website to reach your clients and close sales. So you don’t want visitors to leave within seconds when they can’t find what they’re looking for.
That’s why you need a website map to display important pages.
Learning how to create a sitemap is a crucial step towards a successful website.
If you’ve only heard the term and but haven’t implemented this vital part of website design, read on to learn:
What a sitemap is
Why you need a sitemap
How to create a sitemap
XML vs. HTML Sitemaps
HTML (hypertext markup language) and XML (extensible markup language) are coding languages used to create web pages. When referring to sitemaps, the two types have different functionality on your website.
Sitemap: XML
An XML sitemap is created for search engines and provides a list of pages and URLs representing your website. An XML sitemap reduces the time a search engine like Google or Bing takes to index your website, especially when following internal links.
As a new website owner, you might be wondering whether you need an HTML sitemap if you already have an XML sitemap on the Google Search Console.
You do, and here’s why:
XML and HTML sitemaps complement each other to offer better SEO (search engine optimization) and user experience.
Sitemap: HTML
An HTML sitemap is a central list of every link on your website that helps you keep track of your pages and subpages. Well-crafted HTML sitemaps make it easy for search engine crawlers as well as human visitors to find what they’re looking for anywhere on the website.
HTML sitemaps can give you an excellent basis for creating a complete table of contents that makes navigation simple for your users. As an organized list of clickable URLs, it empowers users to easily navigate to the webpage they want.
In the HTML sitemap, anchor texts are directly linked to the specific pages they refer to on your website. Visitors can locate topics they wouldn’t find in an average search or on the main menu.
With an HTML sitemap, your users can spend less time searching and more time on your webpages. That’s a win for your website’s SEO ranking.
Why An HTML Sitemap Is Important For Your Website
Web experts recommend having a sitemap page when you create a new website — we agree.
But you might find an HTML page sitemap most useful if:
Your website is huge and has a lot of content.
Your website is new and doesn’t have good backlinking.
Your web content is constantly updated.
Your website has archived content that is poorly linked.
Here are other reasons to add a sitemap to your website.
1. HTML Sitemaps Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
If your website’s main navigation menu doesn’t link to all your webpages, a sitemap is crucial. It will improve your SEO by displaying important URLs on SERPs (search engine results pages) that would otherwise be buried on your website.
Your webpages will have better visibility and do what they are meant to do — draw visitors to your website. Those visitors will also stay on your website longer as they breezily navigate your webpages, which ultimately boosts your ranking.
2. An HTML Sitemap Page Specifies Your Content’s Purpose
Anchor texts on the website sitemap are a great way to highlight what the website is about before users get to your webpages. Your anchor text should include relevant and unique keywords to any archived content that lacks proper linking.
An HTML sitemap also reduces the chances of having orphaned pages on your website.
3. HTML Sitemaps Make a Website More User-Friendly
Any webmaster who wants a successful website needs to ensure users can find content quickly. HTML sitemaps create a better user-experience that won’t frustrate potential customers. If it’s difficult for users to find what they want, they’ll leave — and navigate to your competitor’s website.
4. HTML Sitemaps Solve Content Duplication Issues
Google and most other search engines strive to index and display pages with unique content. When you have a clear sitemap, you can easily identify identical content and make adjustments.
If you realize your webpages have similar URLs, you can consolidate the URLs on Google. You can choose only what you want your visitors to see when they search your pages.
How To Create a Sitemap
If you want to learn how to create a sitemap, you can do it in two major ways: You can do it manually or use a sitemap generator.
How To Create a Sitemap Manually
Learning how to create a sitemap requires users to have an average to advanced knowledge of the two markup languages — HTML and XML.
You’re looking at a ton of coding if you want to create an XML site map manually. And once you finish, you still need to direct search engines to your sitemap on the Google Search Console for Google users and Bing Webmaster Tools for Bing.
For this reason, we recommend you let your CMS (content management system) handle it, or install a plugin, which we will cover in the next section. If you do want to take the time, you can learn how to create an XML site map manually here.
It’s far less difficult to create HTML sitemaps manually, especially for small websites without a lot of content. You do this by creating a new page and adding links to all your content.
But a good chunk of website owners — particularly those using WordPress to start a new eCommerce business — don’t know how to create a sitemap.
Plus as your site grows it becomes impossible to create and manage your HTML sitemap manually.
That’s why you need to learn how to create sitemaps using sitemap generators.
How To Create a Sitemap With Sitemap Generators
For the DIY webmaster, XML and HTML sitemap generators make the sitemap creation process quick, easy, and highly accurate.
Depending on the CMS you’re using, putting a sitemap in a website might be as simple as installing a plugin.
If you’re using WordPress, you will find the majority of WordPress SEO plugins have an inbuilt XML sitemap functionality, including:
Yoast SEO
The SEO Framework
Jetpack
Yoast SEO is a fantastic option for generating XML sitemaps.
Among other features, this WordPress plugin empowers you to decide which parts of your website’s content search engines can index. You may be able to get away with the free version of Yoast SEO for your website. But, for $89 per year the premium option delivers nearly any feature you’ll need.
Simple Sitemap is a free plugin for WordPress that can generate HTML sitemaps. It is quick and easy to use without the need for any coding or configuring.
If your website is large or newly created, you need a sitemap. An HTML sitemap is provides a friendly user-experience with easy website navigation.
Site maps can directly and indirectly impact the search ranking of your pages. An XML sitemap helps search engines understand your website content and minimizes the time it takes to crawl and index your pages. HTML sitemaps encourage visitors to stay on your website longer, reducing your bounce rate.