A sitemap is arguably the single most vital component of a site’s SEO and optimization since it points the search engine where to go. But if your website sitemap is misconfigured or contains some mistakes, it will negatively affect your website ranking instead of enhancing it. In this guide, I have listed the most common mistakes you are making on your sitemap: issues with your ranking and how to address them.
What Is the Role of Sitemap?
A sitemap is a file that resembles HTML but provides the search engine with the pages you want listed on your website. It guides the SE crawlers when crawling your site so that they get the best of it. Nonetheless, mistakes made when creating your sitemap can mislead the crawlers, result in the wastage of your crawl budget and, at long last, reduce your site’s visibility in the search engine result pages.
Common Sitemap Errors
1. Including Non-Canonical URLs
Issue: Non-canonical URLs are distributed URLs that are copies or other versions of the first web page. Search engines might crawl the wrong version if such URLs are included in your sitemap.
Fix:
- Make sure that all the URLs in the sitemap are canonical.
- Avoid frames and use meta tags that tell search engines which of the page versions is primary.
2. Broken or Dead Links
Issue: Broken links in sitemap mean search engines crawl non-existing pages, thus wasting time and, probably, ranking your site.
Fix:
- Increase your awareness of your sitemap by using Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to audit it at least once weekly.
- Deleting or replacing any broken URL as soon as possible is necessary.
3. Going further than the set URLs or File size limits
Issue: There are limitations to the kind of sitemaps, specifically XML sitemaps, where you may include up to 50,000 URLs or a sitemap index file of up to 50MB. We found that excessive crawling of these structures can lead to incomplete crawling with frame size beyond the above limits.
Fix:
- Large sitemaps should be split into sub-sitemaps based on categories, like articles, products, or blogs.
- Separate the website into several sitemaps to work with their collective optimization aid – a sitemap index file.
4. Including Blocked URLs
Issue: Any URL that you failed to allow using your robots.txt file or one that you included a ‘noindex’ meta tag should not be allowed in the sitemap. This gives search engines a battle line on which they are unsure.
Fix:
- Check your robots.txt and sitemap, and compare both.
- Remove URLs that have no index or are banned in robots.txt.
5. Failure to Update the Sitemap frequently
Issue: If your sitemap is not updated as and when you add or remove content, you will likely miss some significant changes when searching through the search engine.
Fix:
- Have frequently changing content and dynamic sitemaps for websites.
- Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console and resubmit it as often as possible.
6. Failure to indicate Priority and Change Frequency
Issue: Failure to include <priority> and <changefreq> may make search engines misunderstand the structure of your site.
Fix:
- Assign priorities based on the importance of your pages (e.g., homepage as 1.0).
- Set
<changefreq>tags to signal how often a page is updated.
7. Duplicate URLs in the Sitemap
Issue: Duplicate URLs are bad for search engines and water down ranking factors.
Fix:
- Some tools can be used to look for duplications in the sitemap to help minimize them.
- Make sure that each URL is for a unique page.
8. Not Using HTTPS URLs
Issue: Google points out every opportunity where it finds HTTP when your overall website uses HTTPS; this makes you look like an inconsistent or insecure site to the search engines.
Fix:
- No HTTP must be included in your sitemap; always use secure https URLs.
- Forcefully drive your visitors toward the HTTPS versions of your site’s pages.
9. Invalid XML Format
Issue: Poor sitemap formats will make it look like a message that cannot be parsed and, therefore, cannot be read by any search engines.
Fix:
- Finally, you can check the realization of your sitemap using the following tools: XML Sitemap Validator.
- Stress on the protocol of the sitemap.
10. Omitting Multimedia or Alternate Content
Issue: Likewise, if your site contains a lot of images, videos or, for instance, multilingual pages, excluding them from the sitemap lowers visibility.
Fix:
- Develop straps for multimedia components: images and videos. Implement multiple language content sitemaps.
- Provide them in addition to your general sitemap.
The Approach of Identifying Sitemap Errors
Google Search Console:
- Look through the “Sitemaps” tab and see if there are any marks, such as errors or warnings.
SEO Audit Tools:
- Some tools, including Screaming Frog, SEMrush, or Ahrefs, can help one discover broken links and duplicate URLs, among other problems that may be contained in a site map.
XML Sitemap Validator:
- It can assist you to guarantee the correct format and structure of your sitemap.
Recommendations on the Use of Sitemaps
- Keep Your Sitemap Clean: Use only relevant URLs that should be ranked on your website pages.
- Update Regularly: Automating the process of delivering updated content to dynamic content sites will be necessary.
- To do this, submit your sitemap: It is recommended that a sitemap always go through Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Use Proper Structure: Always use the XML sitemap to comply with all the search engines.
Conclusion
A site map is one of the most crucial aspects of SEO for any reasonably large site that you can simply not afford to be without. To improve the search engine results and effectiveness of your content reach, you should avoid such basic mistakes as broken links, duplicate URLs, and wrong formats available for indexing. They know sitemap best practices, allowing them to conduct an audit regularly and ensure they can search.