WordPress Sitemap Plugins are the most convenient thing that you could ever come across while working with any WordPress website. Gone were the days when people use to add an HTML page to showcase the list of entire WebPages included in their website for the convenience of the visitor to know and choose the page they would like to explore. We should be thankful for the advanced technology and Google guidelines that such practice is replaced by hidden XML sitemap which on serious note has saved lots of times and efforts and secure your website to have a good reputation in Google eye if added correctly.
If you were searching Google to find out the best WordPress Sitemap Plugins for 2019; that you can use efficiently in your WordPress website or blogs then you have clicked right page. This post will explain all about WordPress Sitemap Plugins along with details about how to install each of them. So keep scrolling down this page till the end.
Sitemaps- The Concept Explained
The name itself is quite self-explaining- a sitemap is a detailed map of your website that provides information as a list of your site’s URLs. It works as a navigator for search engine crawlers be it Google crawler or Bing crawlers by providing a detailed list of URL/pages of your website that you wish to get indexed with these search engines. In other words, sitemaps are XML files usually stored in the root folder of any/all websites. This advice/help the search engine while indexing process by extending the accessibility and visibility of web content in detail by search engines.
The complete URL list is collected in an XML file. XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. XML was primarily designed to store and transport data and the cherry on the cake is; it is both human and machine-readable. Furthermore, sitemaps can also have the “metadata” which gives the engine bots some additional information about your website content.
The sitemap 0.9 protocol was initially proposed by www.sitemaps.org and got welcomed and accepted by all major search engines and since then it is used as the standard practice followed by Google and all other major search engines.
This is how any XML Sitemap looks like:
Best WordPress Sitemap Plugins of 2019
Coming to our main topic of discussion now, let’s begin to check out the popular, feasible, apt and counted best WordPress sitemap Plugins one by one that could serve your purpose. This section will allow you to dive in little deeper and learn in detail about the sitemap functionality of these Plugins.
Yoast SEO
If you have had any experience in managing/developing or working with your WordPress website then it’s bounded sure that you have heard of “Yoast SEO Plugin”. Having favored by more than millions of users this Plugin is still gaining admirable users with every passing day.
Counted as one of the most trusted, easy and best SEO Plugin, it is also known to be the most convenient and best WordPress Sitemap Plugin.
Major benefits of the Yoast Plugin are as follows:
- The XML sitemap is auto-generated and could be submitted easily.
- Yoast SEO sitemaps feature works smoothly with context to Multisite network.
- Yoast SEO follows the sitemap index feature of the Sitemap protocol.
- Accelerates SEO campaign of your website.
- Automatically signals both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools about any modifications done in the sitemap and cluster 1000 URL in one sitemap, this way it can cover as much as URL in one website.
- Easily and on its own manages the maximum sitemap size of 50,000 URLs issue.
- Yoast SEO Plugin offers XSL style sheets for XML Sitemaps that enables a user to manually review for any possible errors and correcting missing data.
- Automatically optimize images and add them to the sitemap that helps in image rankings.
All in One SEO Pack
The next popular name that bagged a seat in the list of best WordPress Sitemap Plugins list is “All in One SEO Pack”. Having an overall 4.4-star rating and over one million users this SEO plug works magically great for your managing and promoting your website. The best part features all elements that one needs to work on while doing SEO of his website. Generating and submitting XML sitemap is one such feature.
Few other highlights of “All in One SEO Pack” Plugin are as follows:
- Very simple to understand, use and easy in its implication.
- The XML sitemap is generated& submitted automatic and is invisible to the user.
- Like Yoast SEO it also intimates Google & Bing about Sitemap status.
- It features sitemap customization options.
- Allows you to add Non-Wordpress Pages in Sitemap manually at the backend.
- The Pro version of “All in One SEO Pack” offers Video XML sitemap that would help your videos getting displayed along thumbnail and a heading line in the search results.
- It is quite a flexible WordPress Plugin from its configuration settings perspective.
- It could be best WordPress Sitemap Plugin for novice developers or site owners with little technical know-how.
Google Sitemap
As the name reflects this is a dedicated sitemap Plugin for WordPress. The Google Word Press no doubt has millions of users and is playing in its league since it was introduced 5 years back for the first time. Thus still could be counted as the best WordPress Sitemap Plugin for 2019. The prime working of this Plugin is to generate and submit the XML sitemap of your WordPress website.
Some other main features of “Google sitemap” Plugin are:
- Auto generates and submits the XML sitemap to Google search Console.
- Features option to manually cross-check and correct the generated sitemap content.
- It has 4.3 start rating that proves that users are pretty much satisfied with its performance.
- Very easy to install & use.
- It consumes very less space when it comes to its installation & configuration.
- Eats very less server memory in comparison to what it was occupying a few years back.
- Buying the pro version allows you to:
– Exclude specific pages/posts from the sitemap.
– Specify the frequency of sitemap updates.
– Add Multisite compatibility.
– Access premium support options.
Google Sitemap by BestWebSoft
Bagging an overall 4.1 stars rating and more than 70,000 active installs, this WordPress Sitemap Plugin could be your best pick for your website. Google Sitemap by BestWebSoft is one of another best considered WordPress sitemap Plugin for 2019. This Plugin with v could be a perfect alternative to the Google Sitemap Plugin.
Here are a few other prominent features of Google Sitemap by BestWebSoft:
- You can Add alternative languages by using Multisite language Plugin.
- It has built-in functionality of creating sitemaps and submitting to Google News along with the Google Console.
- Add a path to your sitemap file in robots.txt automatically
- It features custom XSL style sheets that can be added to manage/improve the way your sitemaps will be displayed.
- Add external sitemap files.
XML Sitemaps
People who produced Semiologic SEO Plugin are the same who developed the XML Sitemaps Plugin that focuses specifically on sitemap needs of your WordPress website. Considered as one of the best FREE available SEO & sitemap Plugin, XML Sitemap Plugin this could be your best WordPress sitemap Plugin 2019 pick. XML Sitemaps is a considerably lightweight yet powerful tool for auto-generation and submission of sitemap to the search engines.
To name few other features of the XML sitemap Plugin, please check the following:
- The Plugin features quite simple configuration options.
- It allows you to include or exclude date archives, authors, categories etc. manually in the sitemap generated.
- This Plugin has its own rewrite rule which it uses to direct search engines.
- The cached sitemaps can be found in the wp-content/sitemaps folder; no other WordPress sitemap Plugin features this.
- This Plugin is quite compatible with SEO Plugins and other Plugins which share the same sort of information.
- The Plugin manages the count of the blog, category and tag pages available on your website; this increase the sitemap efficiency to handle custom query strings.
XML Sitemap Done!!!
Hope you have got the clear idea about various most popular and best WordPress sitemaps Plugins for 2019. You can choose the one that suits best for your specific needs. Although these Plugins support auto-generation and submission of XML sitemaps, you can also use some other tools to generate the XML sitemap and then submit it manually to various search engines. To learn more on submitting XML sitemap manually you need to wait for a little and check our next post for the same. Stay Tuned!!