| Read time 9 min read

How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

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How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

Read time 9 min read
What is an XML Sitemap

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If you are a small business owner, you may be asking yourself how to check if a website has an XML sitemap, or even how to create an XML sitemap. First things first, a sitemap is a list you can find on most websites that details what each page is about and how it relates to the other pages. It’s an important tool for business owners, web designers and SEO experts alike to understand how people navigate a website. The sitemap contains all the following information:

  • Website address
  • List of topics (content)
  • Pages (URLs) and file types available for each page
  • HTML version number
  • Language used
  • Copyright notice, etc.

By examining and knowing how to check if a website has an XML sitemap, you will discover other available pages. The sitemap helps you create website navigation that is easy for the visitor to use. Your website needs to have an effective sitemap if you want it to be found by search engines, which is necessary for ranking purposes.

What is an XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file containing all of your site’s web pages. What makes an XML sitemap different from the standard HTML sitemap is that this will be in an organized format that is much easier to read and understand. It also tells you how well the search engines can crawl through your website, making it easier to know if there are any problems with it. For example:

How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

(Image Credit: XmlSitemapGenerator)

The XML sitemap will also help users find their way around more quickly because they can use it as a guide as they navigate your site. You can maintain consistency in your website because you will have a single reference point.

Purpose of Site Map

The purpose of creating a site map is to help search engine crawlers retrieve information from your site and increase your chances of appearing on relevant search results. The site map becomes the foundation of your website and provides the framework to strengthen its content and structure. A sitemap can be submitted to search engines as plain text or an XML file. You can guarantee that your website’s pages will all have unique URLs with a well-designed site map.

***Did You Know??? SEMrush found that users visit 3-3.5 pages every time a user lands on a website from search.” If your site has broken links or can’t be navigated properly, this number would go down significantly and your bounce rate would increase.

How to Create an XML Sitemap for a Website

Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to create an XML sitemap for your website:

  1. Create a list of your pages. But this is a list of all the pages on your website, no matter how many there are. For example, the Home page, About us page, Privacy policy page, Contact us page… etc.
  2. Set up an outline for every category and subcategory; give each topic a title and briefly describe it. You can also add a picture representing the topic if you want to.
  3. Use the outline to create an XML file following these steps.
  4. Convert outline > enter text markup language formulas > output as XML file with extension of “.xml”.
  5. Add the information about the page in your sitemap to make it short, clear, and easy to understand by crawlers.
  6. To ensure your XML sitemap is valid, you can use an online sitemaps generator
    tool.
  7. Submit your sitemap to search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
  8. Add the XML file of your sitemap to your website’s root directory so web crawlers can easily find it.

How to Check if a Website has an XML Sitemap

Here is the step-by-step instructions on how to check if your website has an XML sitemap or not:

  1. Open your favorite web browser, enter your domain name and click on a link to visit the site.
  2. Click from the left side menu and make sure you have the “Site map” or “Sitemap” page available. If you don’t see these options, you haven’t correctly configured site details on your website.
  3. Click on the “Sitemap” option and select a list of files associated with this particular link in Google’s search engine.
  4. Verify whether your website has any pages that you might have missed. Try to find the links on your website that are available on the “Sitemap” page.
  5. If you find any missing links, then add them to your sitemap.
  6. Click on “Generate Sitemap,” and you will be prompted to a summary of your sitemap. If you see any errors, then fix them accordingly.
  7. You can now submit another XML sitemap to Google/Bing search engine. It’s as simple as that.

Though there is no definite date given by Google when they update their algorithm, you should start working on the sitemap and make it compatible with many different web browsers and web templates.

How to Check your Sitemap Health

You can submit your sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Tools. These two search engines will quickly show any errors in your XML sitemap. Make sure that all the links included are working and adequately linked. In addition, you should also check if there are any broken links on your website by using a third-party tool such as Xenu Broken Link Checker. For instance:

How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

(Image Credit: WP Tavern)

You may have some problems with your sitemap because it can be tough to track down every link on your website, especially if you have many pages. This is why having the assistance of Google and Bing to double check the site map is essential. Here are the steps that you can follow:

  1. Use a sitemap data extraction tool to find every single link from your server on your site and print it to a CSV file.
  2. Now download the CSV file and open it in Excel.
  3. You will now be able to view broken links within the CSV file and add these links to your sitemap by simply clicking on each of them.
  4. Once the links are added, try to check whether these work or not manually.
  5. Repeat steps 1 – 4 until all the URL links are added and working
  6. Submit the sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Tools.
  7. Monitor your site for another four months and make sure there are no more broken URL links.

When you create a website, your goal is to provide visitors with the best possible user experience. If you want people to stay on your website, you need to organize your site a clear and concise way. You can take advantage of XML sitemaps by adding them in the header or footer of each page of your site to maintain an organized website with clear directions on how users can to navigate through it.

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Why you Need to Find your Sitemap

It would be best if you know how to find and navigate your XML sitemap to ensure that all the links are working properly. When you have a valid link, you can check whether it’s working or not, or at least it will give you an idea of where it is broken. When there are broken links, you can fix them and add links where some may be missing. The best way to check XML sitemaps is to find them in your header or footer on your website pages. If you cannot find your sitemap, you can use Google Search Console.

What are the Benefits of XML Sitemap

There are many benefits of having an XML sitemap on your website. This vital tool allows users and search engines to navigate your site quickly. Every element of the website code and structure must be copied exactly, or the webcrawler won’t properly index your site.

An XML sitemap is simply a map used by search engines to better index your website for its search results. It will also tell them how many pages and links you have on your site, making it easier for them to understand the full scope of your business. Your XML sitemap will then be included in the Google Webmaster Tool, and will serve as a tool to help others navigate your website.

How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

(Image Credit: ShoutMeLoud)

When you create an XML sitemap, you effectively tell Google that you care about how they index your site for their search results. They will then rank your site higher on their search results page.

How to Use XML Sitemap

When you want to use XML sitemaps, you first need to maintain consistency in all of your pages. The combination of proper page titles, a call to action, appropriate keywords, and high quality content will set the foundation for how search engines will rank your site higher on their search results page.

There are already SEO tools that can help you find broken links on your site and quickly fix them. It is also important to note that search engines can get overwhelmed when the number of links on a single page goes beyond the normal range.

It is important to find and study your XML sitemaps as it will help you find broken links on your website, making it easier for search engines and users to navigate your site. You can also use this as a reference tool to check for broken or missing links.

There are many ways to check whether each link on your site is working, but the easiest way is using Google Search Console. All you need to do is copy and paste the URL of the link you are looking for. You can then add it to the search engine and see whether it is working or not. This is a good idea because even if the link is broken, you will know where it is, but at least you have an idea of where it should go.

The benefit of using an XML sitemap is that search engines will rank your website for keywords in the future, so this tool can benefit users in return. It is also important to note that search engines can get overwhelmed with the number of links within your site, so you will have to carve out the framework first to make it easier for users and search engines alike.

How to Fix Broken Links

When any of the links wihin your website are broken, the first thing that you have to do is classify your site by its sections. You can take advantage of the following:

If you have a large site, it is recommended that you add a page for each section to make it easier for users to navigate.

The other way to fix broken links is by using Google Search Console. You start by copying and pasting the URL of the page you want to test. Then all you need to do is click on “Crawl” and wait until there are results on the search results page. If you see your page appear in the results, there is a problem with the link. If you don’t see your page listed, it means that the link is working just fine.

Once you find these broken links, you can use Google Search Console again to begin fixing them. You can also check your sitemap so you know where all the relevant pages are.

It would help to make sure that the broken links are correctly categorized. This is very important as you do not want to create a page that contains hundreds of broken links because you have not categorized them properly. You can manually organize your site using Google’s Structured Data Tester tool, which can help you verify whether the page is labeled correctly. When the category is correct, there will be a green tick next to it. If not, there will be a red X which means that the page does not have the latest label and needs to be updated. If you want to discover more about structured data, you can look at Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. Here is an example:

How to Check if a Website Has an XML Sitemap

(Image Credit: Google Developers)

In conclusion, it is vital optimize your website so search engines can better understand the information you are giving them. This will make it easier for users to navigate your site to find what they need at a particular time and help you rank higher in the search results.

Diib: XML Sitemap Stats at Your Fingertips!

Learning how to check the sitemap of a website is vital to the overall success of any SEO campaign. At Diib Digital, we understand how important it is to get this right. We offer a comprehensive platform designed to give you key information about your sitemap, among hundreds of other metrics. Learn how to find your sitemap, know where your broken links are and how to fix them, quickly and accurately. Here are some of the features of our user dashboard we’re sure you’ll love:

  • Bounce rate monitoring and repair
  • Social media integration and performance
  • Broken pages where you have backlinks (404 checker)
  • Keyword (including snippets), backlink, and indexing monitoring and tracking tools
  • User experience and mobile speed optimization
  • Technical SEO monitoring, including sitemap tracking and prompts for repair

Click here for your free 60 second site scan or simply call 800-303-3510 to speak to one of our growth experts.

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Daniel Urmann

Author Bio:

Daniel Urmann is the co-founder of Diib.com. Over the past 17 years Daniel has helped thousands of business grow online through SEO, social media, and paid advertising. Today, Diib helps over 150,000 business globally grow online with their SaaS offerings. Daniel’s interest include SMB analytics, big data, predictive analytics, enterprise and SMB search engine optimization (SEO), CRO optimization, social media advertising, A/B testing, programatic and geo-targeting, PPC, and e-commerce. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Finance and E-commerce from Cornell University – S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management.

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