A Google Sitemap is considered as one of the essential plugins to be integrated on a WordPress blog, especially for those that wanted to optimize the performance of their site on leading search engines. Thus, it is important to understand how to use Google Sitemaps and in what ways it can help your blog gain the exposure it needs on the web.
First off, you need to learn how to add the Google Sitemap plugin to your WordPress blog. It involves a few basic steps but newbies could use a little bit of getting used to in order to get this done properly. This particular plugin will basically create a sitemap for your blog and then automatically notify Google whenever you make new posts on your blog or website. You can therefore use it to generate organic traffic from search engines provided that you have set up the plugin.
You need to start by installing the plugin for your WordPress blog via the Google Sitemap Generator. Then, take note of the installation instructions and follow it to ensure that it is done correctly. You will need a write access for the plugin such that you can make the blog folder writable. Once the plugin has been activated, it will create a new Sitemap on your WordPress dashboard. You will find it under the Sitemap sub-menu.
Go to the Sitemap menu and look for the link that will enable you to build the sitemap, then click on it. If you followed all the instructions above to the letter, then you should be able to generate a sitemap at this stage. If not, then you need to do it all over again. There are also several tutorials available that will help you walk through this procedure in an easier and smoother manner. You will also find several websites that are dedicated to providing more useful tips and directions on how to fix this particular issue.
Once you have built your Google Sitemap for WordPress blog, visit Google Webmaster Tools and create your own account. Log into the account you created so you can submit domain or website and a link to your blog to Google. It is important that you add both in order to maximize the amount of exposure that your blog can get online. If, in case, your website is run solely through WOrdpress then you can simply indicate the main domain for that blog. But if a blog is a part of your website, then make sure to submit the URL.
The Google Sitemap plugin for the WordPress is indeed one of the most important features available for this blogging platform. As you can see from above, the setup process for this plugin is relatively easy and once you know the steps that you should be able to maximize its results. You can therefore leverage this particular tool to generate traffic to your site pages and also allow them to rank in top search engines. This is a simple process but the impact on your online business or blog could be really important.