If you're trying to create a sitemap for your website, the good news is that you don't necessarily need expensive SEO software or advanced programming knowledge. For a smaller website, generating a basic XML sitemap can be surprisingly straightforward.
An XML sitemap provides search engines with a structured list of URLs on your website. It can help search engines discover pages they might otherwise have difficulty finding through ordinary internal links.
We've also created a free tool specifically for this purpose. You can use the RichInWriters Free XML Sitemap Generator to scan up to 50 public pages on a smaller website and create a downloadable sitemap.xml file.
What Is a Website Sitemap?
A sitemap is essentially a map of URLs you want search engines to know about.
For search engines such as Google, the most common format is XML. Instead of being designed primarily for human visitors, an XML sitemap uses a standardized structure that search-engine crawlers can process.
A typical website might make its sitemap available at:
https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Google explains that sitemaps can provide information about pages, videos, images and other files while helping search engines understand relationships between those resources.
How to Create a Sitemap for Your Website
For a smaller website, you can create one in a few basic steps:
- Open the RichInWriters Free XML Sitemap Generator.
- Enter your website address, including your domain name.
- Click Generate Sitemap.
- Allow the generator to scan the public internal pages it can discover.
- Review the generated URLs.
- Download the resulting sitemap.xml file.
- Upload sitemap.xml to the public root of your website.
Once uploaded, you should normally be able to visit:
https://yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml
and see the XML file.
What Does the RichInWriters Sitemap Generator Do?
Our sitemap generator was intentionally designed to be simple. It's not attempting to replace enterprise crawling software or sophisticated SEO platforms.
The tool scans up to 50 public pages, follows internal links on the submitted website, ignores many common non-page files and creates standard XML sitemap output that you can download.
It's particularly useful for smaller static websites, business websites, personal sites and other projects that don't already have automatic sitemap generation.
Try it here: Create a Free XML Sitemap.
Does a Sitemap Improve Google Rankings?
Not automatically.
This distinction is important because sitemap generators are sometimes promoted as though creating a sitemap will suddenly improve your search rankings.
A sitemap primarily helps with discovery and crawling. It doesn't guarantee that Google will index a URL, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that the page will rank highly.
Your content quality, internal linking, website performance, authority, relevance, technical configuration and many other factors still matter.
WordPress Websites May Already Have a Sitemap
If your website runs on a modern version of WordPress, check before generating another sitemap.
WordPress introduced built-in XML sitemap functionality with WordPress 5.5. A standard installation will commonly make its sitemap available at:
https://yourwebsite.com/wp-sitemap.xml
SEO plugins may also provide their own sitemap functionality.
For dynamic websites, ecommerce stores and applications that frequently add or remove pages, automatically generating the sitemap from the website itself is generally preferable to periodically creating a static file.
Creating the Sitemap Is Sometimes the Easy Part
Generating an XML file doesn't necessarily mean your website is technically healthy.
You could still have broken links, redirect problems, PHP errors, database issues, incorrectly configured canonical URLs, security problems, plugin conflicts or pages that search engines cannot properly access.
AI has made diagnosing these problems considerably easier. For many website owners, asking AI for help should absolutely be one of the first troubleshooting steps.
But AI doesn't eliminate the time involved in maintaining a website. Someone still has to understand the recommendations, modify the appropriate files, test the changes, create backups and determine whether the proposed fix actually worked.
Eventually you may encounter a problem where the more important question becomes: Who do you call when AI can't fix it?
When You Need Professional Website Help
If your website has reached the point where maintaining it yourself consumes more time than it's saving, WebmasterSolutions.ca provides Canadian website and application development, troubleshooting, bug fixes and ongoing maintenance.
That could mean repairing an existing WordPress website, troubleshooting PHP or MySQL problems, maintaining a business website, developing a custom application or creating tools specifically for the way your business operates.
You don't necessarily need professional assistance for every small website problem. The value becomes clearer when your website is important enough that downtime, broken functionality or hours spent troubleshooting begin costing more than professional help would.
After Building the Website, You Still Need Exposure
A perfectly functioning website without visitors isn't particularly useful to most businesses.
If you've already built something and you're looking for another way to advertise it, APlusWebTraffic is an advertising platform currently operating in its beta/pilot stages.
One of its more interesting features is its low barrier to entry. Advertising currently starts at just $10 per year, allowing a business owner or webmaster to experiment with the platform without making the kind of financial commitment normally associated with major advertising campaigns.
The larger advertising packages are where the model becomes more interesting for consultants, affiliates, webmasters and other business-minded advertisers because qualifying advertisers can also participate in referral features offered by the platform.
APlusWebTraffic is still developing its audience, so advertising shouldn't be treated as guaranteed traffic, customers or income. The attraction is inexpensive advertising combined with the potential advantages of participating during the platform's early stages.
Create Your Sitemap Today
If all you need right now is an XML sitemap, don't overcomplicate the process.
Start with the RichInWriters Free XML Sitemap Generator, generate the file, review the URLs and place sitemap.xml on your website.
If maintaining the website itself becomes the problem, consider professional assistance from WebmasterSolutions.ca. And once you've built something worth promoting, APlusWebTraffic provides another advertising channel worth investigating.
The sitemap helps search engines discover what you've built. The larger challenge is making sure what they discover is a website worth visiting.