Making Your Blog Search Engine Friendly With XML SiteMaps

One of the uncommon search engine optimization (SEO) tactics is the maintenance of a Google sitemap for a particular website. A Google sitemap is an XML file that outlines the pages and subpages of your website so that Google’s own search engine spiders will have an easier time in indexing your pages and tracking changes and updates implemented therein. Many SEO veterans claim that the inclusion of a Google sitemap has spelled the difference in their websites’ positions in relevant search engine queries.

In the highly competitive world of search engine marketing (SEM), every action – no matter how seemingly small – counts a lot, after all.

This is true for blogs, as well.

Wordpress blog owners have to contend with the fact, however, that such blogging platform does not generate a Google-compliant sitemap.

Thankfully, the Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin has been released to, well, “plug” such a deficiency.

By installing the Google Sitemap plugin, you will be able to make your blog more competitive in fighting for a top slot in relevant search engine results. 80% of the traffic you will be able to generate for your pages will come from the search engines, after all. Every move you’ll make for your blog matters.

The Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin will automatically generate Google-compliant sitemaps for your blog. Additionally, the Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin also generates sitemaps that Yahoo, Ask and MSN can read.

The plugin also automatically calculates the priority of each blog entry, based on the number of comments posted therein. This prioritization system can be overridden, however, via a menu where the user can input the parameters he wants the sitemap to follow.

The Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin generates XML files in many languages, which is perfect for the regional indexing that Google has introduced in recent years.

Also of notable importance is the fact that the Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin pings search engines that can read the sitemap it generates every time a change therein is made. No need to manually resort to an external pinging tool. This plugin takes care of such a task.

Installing the Google Sitemap plugin is as easy as installing other plugins. Simply unzip the components of the file to your wp-content/plugins directory. Thereafter, go to your Wordpress administration page and install the plugin via your plugin menu. Access the plugin and click on “rebuild sitemap” to generate your sitemap for the very first time. Make manual changes if necessary.

One of the main reasons why blogs have quickly become the main marketing weapons of many online businessmen is the fact that they can easily win the favor of search engines. Blogs fare better than ordinary websites when it comes to placing in top results of search engine queries.

By using the Google Sitemap Wordpress plugin, you will be able to make blogs even more powerful tools in your quest for the number one position for the keyword/s you’re targeting.