This post is a continuation of the last post that focuses on boosting your SEO with XML sitemaps. Consider the following tips to rank better.

1.     Generate XML Manually/Automatically

There are two ways to generate a sitemap: automatically and manually. For ease of use, you can use any application that has a built-in XML sitemap generator. Alternatively, plug-ins such as Google XML Sitemaps can play the role of an XML sitemap generator. If you have a WordPress website, you can use the Yoast SEO for this purpose.

Conversely, there is an option to generate manual XML sitemaps; you just need to go through the code structure of the website.

2.     Redirect Your Sitemap to the Right Pages

To rank better on SERPs, you have to focus on the overall website quality. For example, bots are directed to several low-quality web pages. For search engines, this can mean that your website is not credible.

A better strategy is to direct bots towards the key web pages on your website. These pages exhibit one or more of the following features.

• Optimised greatly with an astute keyword placement strategy.
• Include non-textual content in the form of videos, images, infographics, or any interactive media.
• Contain unique and new content, forcing search engines to rank it due to its originality.
• Pages with traces of user engagement, such as a blog post with a lot of comments.

3.     Refrain from Adding ‘noindex’ URLs

If you don’t want bots to index specific pages, there is no need to add them in your website’s sitemap. For instance, if a submitted sitemap contains ‘noindex’ and blocked web pages, it can confuse search engines because you are asking them to index and not index at the same time. Therefore, make sure to avoid making this common mistake, or it can affect your ranking.

4.     Choose Sitemap over Meta Robots

If you have a large website, it can be quite cumbersome to track all the meta robots. So, instead of using a meta robot, you can make use of basic logic rules to authorise when a web page should be added in your XML sitemap.

5.     Use Sitemaps and RSS/Atoms Both

Adding new content and updating a web page is a good SEO practice. You can use RSS/ATOM feeds to send this change information to the search engines. According to Google, these feeds should be used in conjunction with sitemaps, so search engines can evaluate which of the web pages has to be indexed or updated.

6.     Update Properly

Some webmasters engage in deceptive techniques to improve their SEO. They attempt to fool search engines in re-indexing web pages when modification time is updated while no notable change is added to that web page. Keep in mind that Google’s AI is smarter than you may think, and if it catches your trickery, it may delete your date stamps.

If you want to rank better, contact us so we can recreate a new SEO strategy for your website.