Are you using a WordPress plugin to manage your XML SiteMaps? Most people do.
There are a lot of popular XML SiteMap Generator plugins, even with that very name, so how do you choose which one to use?
I recently switched from Google XML Sitemaps to the Better WordPress Google XML Sitemaps (link to WordPress Plugin Directory). Here is why and how.
BWP Google XML Sitemaps Advantages
This XML Sitemap generator is great for sites of all sizes and is awesome for large sites with over 50,000 URLs.
It is fast.
It goes easy on the web server making light requests preserving your server resources for visitors.
It works with Google, Bing and Ask.
It can be extended and customized using modules. Detailed logging and a debug mode are even included.
This plugin will allow you to create Sitemap Indexes. That’s right, a sitemap of sitemaps. This allows you to get around the common 50,000 URL limit. Now, because the sitemaps in the index is generated separately, they are created faster. Alternatively, you can use this feature to split large sitemaps into smaller ones.
WordPress Multi-site is supported allowing each website to have its own sitemapindex and sitemap.
Sub-Folder sitemaps are supported.
Sub-Domain sitemaps are supported.
Google News Sitemap creation is supported. This is very cool.
With these feature simply select the WordPress category and the type of newsfeed (genres) and you are done. The selected search engines will be automatically notified (pinged) every time you post in the selected categories.
How to Switch XML Sitemap Plugins
Maybe you are already using a different plugin for XML Sitemaps and now you want to switch. Here is how. It is easy.
- Connect with your favorite FTP client ( I like FileZilla)
- Navigate to your web root. On cPanel server it is usually public_html
- Find both the sitemap.xm. and the sitemapxml.gz (gzip) files and delete them
- Deactivate your existing XML Sitemap plugin
- Active the new XML Sitemap plugin
- Review the settings and modify as needed and save
- Ensure that your new sitemap is generated
- Congratulate yourself on a job well done.
The Better WordPress Google XML Sitemaps plugin has a lot going for it. You can get all the details on their plugin website. What XML Sitemap plugin are you using? Have you considered switching?