Magento 2 Sitemap definitely plays an important role in SEO. It helps Google to identify, crawl, and analyze your website links better. The faster the crawling of new webpages, the shorter the queue time of your new products in Google will be. There are up to 6 different kinds of sitemaps, but in this post, Magesolution will focus on two sitemap formats that are seen most often and considered to be the most commonly used: HTML and XML.
What is a Sitemap?
Magento SEO sitemap is a “map” of your website with a list of pages on your website. Regarding technical, a sitemap is a navigational tool that lists links to pages of a website to provide an overview of the site’s content and organization.
There is two kinds of Magento SEO sitemap including HTML and XML. HTML sitemap is a sitemap presented in the form of a web page. An XML sitemap is an XML file lists all the URLs of a website and additional Metadata about each URL.
What is the difference between an HTML and XML sitemap?
HTML and XML sitemaps have different uses and values for search engine optimization. The key difference between HTML and XML sitemaps is that HTML sitemaps are written primarily for the users and needed most to help them to have a complete understanding of a website, and XML sitemaps are written first of all for search engines.HTML sitemap is rather a general overview of the site, the pages, and information, which could be helpful to the visitors. While HTML sitemap being used mostly by the users of a website, it can also help to boost the search engine ranking.
In a general, XML is primarily generated to facilitate the functionality of the search engines, providing them with all the essential information regarding the structure of the website.
Why is Sitemap a Must-Have in Magento 2?
In “the following criteria”, Google claims that sitemaps are useful for
- Large websites
- Websites with lots of content that’s not well linked
- New websites
- Websites with rich media content
It’s clear from the above that very websites need to have a sitemap.
Benefits of XML sitemap in Magento 2
- Helps search engines index all the contents of your website
To get your website showcase on the search result when there’re keywords typed in these search engines, you need to let them know what is delivered on your sites. Google and other engines like bing use programs that are named as crawlers to “read” your webpage to determine which ranking the content deserves.
Therefore, the search engines all offer a tool where you can submit them a map to ensure all information on your website can be reached. That’s how the XML sitemap is used.
Moreover, Magento 2 eCommerce websites always have active content and pages which may not well connected (e.g., a product is only available when searching), XML sitemap is an essential factor. It allows the crawlers to index your website more exhaustively
- Improve your website’s ranking on the search result page
In the XML sitemap, you can show metadata related to each page in the list. And according to Google Search Console, “Metadata is information about a website, such as when the page was last updated, how often the page is changed, and the importance of the page relative to other URLs in the website.” The more details you offer, the better and faster Google can index your website
Benefits of HTML sitemap in Magento 2
- Provide users the clear structure of your website
Unlike XML sitemap which is designed for the robot only, HTML sitemap is introduced in a readable form of a web page. In a website filled with large products, an HTML sitemap is a right choice to provide customers comprehensive looks of what you offer.
- Help your site to be crawled faster by search engines
HTML sitemap is readable to not only humans but also crawlers. So, owners store often neglect to add HTML sitemap on their websites without knowing that they are taking away the chance for the online store to be indexed faster
In videos posted on Google Webmasters Youtube channel, the Google team themselves claims that they can not guarantee that the robot indexes all links in the XML sitemap. And HTML sitemap is like another chance for the website to be indexed fully.
- Make sure that all webpages can be reached by a link from another findable page
Search engine optimization is especially useful for websites with dynamic content, when the information on the site is new and does not have many links to it, or when some articles combine a lot of content while being not properly linked.. In another saying, HTML sitemap is the perfect tool to generate internal links to every page of your website
How to create Magento 2 Sitemap?
Below we will show you clear step-by-step instructions to create a sitemap in Magento 2 back office.
Go to your Admin Panel:
- Select ‘STORES’ on the left sidebar:
- Choose ‘Configuration’ here:
- Then click XML Sitemap to see all the options:
- Choose ‘Category Options’ and set ‘Frequency’ to one of the options there.
- The ‘Priority’ should be valued (0.0 to 1.0):
How to configure Magento 2 Sitemap Auto-generation?
In order to set Magento XML Sitemap to be created automatically. Login to Stores > Configuration > Catalog > XML Sitemap and find the Generation Settings section.
In Generation Settings, you Enable the autogeneration and set up the Time and Frequency you want it to be created at. We strongly suggest you to set it to be created daily and at night time. In case something might go wrong and you need to be notified, set the Error Email Recipient, the Error Email Sender, and Error Email Template can have the default values.
Don’t forget to press the Save button.
Greatly improved XML Sitemap functionality help Magento 2 SEO to the next level. Robots. txt integration, the ability to specify sitemap file limits, add images and define the priority/frequency for various pages lets search engine crawlers more efficiently index your site URLs.
Conclusion
For website owners who want to be sure they’re doing everything they can to satisfy the SEO gods, creating both an XML and an HTML sitemap is worthwhile. Although there is no proof that a sitemap would help your website, there is a strong probability that it will, therefore you should absolutely set one up because there is no danger of being penalized. If you have any trouble in customizing your Magento 2 website, you can contact us. With our Magento Customization Services, Magesolution has helped thousands of merchants modify their online shops to meet the high requirements of customers.
