Do you own a Squarespace site and want to add a sitemap but don’t know how to do it? No worries, I am here to help you.
There are over 4 million websites that are powered by Squarespace that means it is a popular CMS (Content Management System). With its popularity, users also face various difficulties in configuring their Squarespace site, and Sitemap is one of the most common issues faced by users.
Here is an in-depth guide on how to create a sitemap in Squarespace:
What Is A Sitemap?
A sitemap is an XML file where you provide information about pages, videos, images, and other files on your site to the search engine. It helps search engine bots like Google and Bing bots easily crawl your website.
A sitemap also tells Google which pages in your site are important and also provides valuable information about these pages like when was the page last updated, how many times has the page been changed, and the number of images used on the page.
Related: Reasons Why Your Website Needs A Sitemap
Types Of Sitemap
There are 2 primary types of a sitemap as described below:
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a most common and widely used sitemap on websites. A good XML sitemap works as a road map for your website, which takes Google to all your important pages. It is good for SEO, as it allows Google to quickly find the site pages you need.
An XML sitemap is only created for search engines using a programming language that no-tech background people can’t understand.
Here is an example of an XML sitemap:
Types Of XML Sitemaps:
- Image Sitemap: Image Sitemap is very important if you want your image to show up in Google Image Search results.
- Video Sitemap: Like Image, we can also create a sitemap for video. For this, we can create a new and separate file or give video information in an existing sitemap. By adding information, their visibility increases in Rich Snippets.
- Google News Sitemap: Only sites registered with Google News need to use this sitemap. Google News Sitemaps provide information along with metadata about specific news on a site.
Related: Best Online Sitemap Generators
HTML Sitemap
HTML sitemap is created for readers or users that help visitors easily navigate your entire site. For example, some websites have thousands of pages and here HTML sitemaps help users find these pages in one place.
In simple words, an HTML sitemap means creating a page on your website which has links to the pages of all the sections. If the visitor has trouble finding any desired post or section on your website, then the visitor can use the HTML sitemap to reach the desired page.
Generally, you can find it in the site’s footer section. Here is how an HTML sitemap looks like:
Steps To Create A Sitemap In Squarespace
In Squarespace, you don’t need to create a sitemap manually, it creates a sitemap automatically for your website that includes all the URLs for indexing. Every time when you update anything on your website like adding or removing pages, then your sitemap will get updated automatically.
If you have a built-in Squarespace site, then here is how your sitemap will look like:
http://sitename.squarespace.com/sitemap.xml (replace site name with your Squarespace domain)
If you have a custom domain on the Squarespace site, then here is how your sitemap will look like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (replace yourdomain.com with your custom domain)
Now, to check the sitemap of your Squarespace website, add “sitemap.xml” at the end of your website URL. Here is how it looks:
Related: Best Website Builders
How To Submit Squarespace Sitemap To Google
After creating a sitemap, it’s time to submit it to Google by using Search Console. Here is a step by step guide:
Step 1: First, you need to create a Search Console account (if not have any) and need to add and verify your website ownership by uploading a simple HTML tag on your website’s header file.
Step 2: Now, after verifying your ownership, go to Sitemaps under “Index” in your Search Console dashboard as shown in the image below.
Step 3: Now, you will have an option where you need to add your sitemap URL as we discussed earlier in this guide. Simply add “sitemap.xml” in the given field similar to the image below.
Step 4: Now, after some time, your sitemap will successfully be added to the Google Search Console and you will see the last read and discovered URLs similar to the below image.
Your sitemap will automatically get updated every time you make any change to your website.
Related: Page Experience Report In Google Search Console
Conclusion
I hope you have learned about sitemap and its importance for your Squarespace site. Still, if you face any issues then feel free to ask in the comment section below.
