Google sitemaps are an important part of any Search Engine Optimization strategy, but what can you do if you've a very large website that you happen to be trying to work with? Most online google sitemap tools have a hard-coded url limit. It's important that you put all the urls you want to have google crawl in your google sitemap file. The initial step is to quit using free online tools and get an offline google sitemap generator that is capable of handling more than 500 web pages.
Using an offline tool doesn't completely get you out of the woods if you have a huge site. In the event your xml sitemap is larger than 50,000 pages you'll have to divide it into multiple sitemap files. Why? Because Google limits each individual google sitemap file to no more than 50,000 URLs (or 10MB, whichever comes first). Splitting the google sitemap manually is pretty easy, but a high quality google sitemap generator will do this for you automatically. When you split your sitemap file, rename them so that each file has a unique name. I prefer "sitemap1.xml, sitemap2.xml, sitemap3.xml...", you get the idea. I use sitemap.xml (with a number) for the xml sitemap index.
Creating the sitemap index file is fairly straightforward also. It's actually yet another XML file that contains the URL of each separate sitemap file within it. More information is available here: http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html#index
If you're anything like me and you don't want the annoyance of splitting and making the index yourself, you can get a tool like Inspyder Sitemap Creator which can handle all this for you. Inspyder Sitemap Creator is the best sitemap generator I have found thus far. It has unlimited pages, so it can handle massive sites like mine. It can help you set priority and update frequeny to individual pages (or groups of pages) which is well suited for power users.
Sitemaps are an essential piece of your sem base. If you're trying to work with free online tools, stop and mull over investing in an offline xml sitemap generator. You'll get more flexibility (setting priorities, etc.) than you can with online tools, and it will be possible to properly sitemap your entire web site.
Using an offline tool doesn't completely get you out of the woods if you have a huge site. In the event your xml sitemap is larger than 50,000 pages you'll have to divide it into multiple sitemap files. Why? Because Google limits each individual google sitemap file to no more than 50,000 URLs (or 10MB, whichever comes first). Splitting the google sitemap manually is pretty easy, but a high quality google sitemap generator will do this for you automatically. When you split your sitemap file, rename them so that each file has a unique name. I prefer "sitemap1.xml, sitemap2.xml, sitemap3.xml...", you get the idea. I use sitemap.xml (with a number) for the xml sitemap index.
Creating the sitemap index file is fairly straightforward also. It's actually yet another XML file that contains the URL of each separate sitemap file within it. More information is available here:
http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html#index
If you're anything like me and you don't want the annoyance of splitting and making the index yourself, you can get a tool like Inspyder Sitemap Creator which can handle all this for you. Inspyder Sitemap Creator is the best sitemap generator I have found thus far. It has unlimited pages, so it can handle massive sites like mine. It can help you set priority and update frequeny to individual pages (or groups of pages) which is well suited for power users.
Sitemaps are an essential piece of your sem base. If you're trying to work with free online tools, stop and mull over investing in an offline xml sitemap generator. You'll get more flexibility (setting priorities, etc.) than you can with online tools, and it will be possible to properly sitemap your entire web site.
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