What Is a Sitemap?
A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the important pages on your website. It tells search engines what to crawl and how often content is updated.
Check If You Already Have One
Visit yourdomain.ca/sitemap.xml in your browser. Most modern CMS platforms and frameworks generate sitemaps automatically.
How to Generate a Sitemap
- WordPress — Yoast SEO or Rank Math generates it automatically
- Shopify — Auto-generated at
/sitemap.xml - Next.js — Use the
next-sitemappackage or built-in sitemap generation - Manual — Use xml-sitemaps.com to generate one
Submit to Google
- Go to Google Search Console
- Select your property
- Click Sitemaps in the left sidebar
- Enter your sitemap URL and click Submit
Submit to Bing
Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap the same way.
Related Resources
Strengthen your technical SEO:
- How to Set Up Google Search Console
- How to Add Schema Markup to Your Website
- How to Check and Improve Your Website Speed
Sitemaps are one piece of a complete SEO strategy. We handle all of the technical SEO for our clients.