XML Sitemap Plugins That Will Help You Get and Stay Seen in Google and Bing
Not all WordPress plugins are created equal and if you’re ready to get started with a WordPress hosted website, one of the first things you need to do (after registering your site in Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Websmaster Tools, of course) is to submit a sitemap that search engines can use to index your website.
There are an assortment of WordPress plugins for everything nowadays, and the same holds true for sitemap plugins. How do you choose the right one?
This can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, one of the best plugins for sitemaps out there also helps you with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), while another offers a dedicated focus on building the best sitemap possible.
Yoast SEO Plugin
Yoast SEO is a well-known, highly usable plugin that, as it’s name suggests, will help you manage your website’s SEO with a variety of tools. These tools range from being able to freely edit your website’s meta descriptions and tags easily, but also allow you to incorporate your socal networks into your website.
And this is just the beginning of what the plugin can do.
Yoast SEO also has a Sitemap feature that is second to none, letting you submit an auto-updating sitemap to Google and Bing. You never have to worry about manually updating your sitemap as long as you have the Yoast SEO Plugin installed and the XML Sitemap feature turned on.
Google XML Sitemaps
Google XML Sitemaps by WordPress developer Arne Brachhold is another great plugin and can even operate alongside the aforementioned Yoast SEO plugin if you have the Yoast SEO Sitemap feature turned off.
The advantage here is that Google XML Sitemaps plugin is dedicated to building you a sitemap, so it gives you a lot more flexiblity. You can decide which of your WordPress website’s pages, categories, tags, and even taxonomies that you want to appear in your sitemap. You can also set the sitemap Priorities and recommended Google and Bing bot crawl frequencies yourself, or exclude certain pages from appearing at all.
Conclusion
Because of the additional features it offers, Google XML Sitemaps is the best way to go, especially if you’re looking for a plugin that is customizable, flexible, and reliable. Yoast SEO is good if you just want something that works without the additional customizing steps.
As mentioned, there are many other XML sitemap plugins out there, and each offers a different take on doing the same thing. While these two are arguably the best overall, it’s up to you to choose the best one for your specific needs.