Comments on: XML Sitemaps: The Most Overrated SEO Tactic Ever

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 02 May 2011 05:14:44 +0000

Hey, I know you wrote this article some time ago but I believe it is still relevant even today. I was glad to find it because it says what I have been saying for a long time so I refer it to my clients when they ask about doing an xml sitemap and look at me funny when I tell them an xml sitemap is not going to help you rank better in Google nor fix all the issues I see with your website having good “seoness”.

Too, I see “seo pros” all the time selling “sitemap submission” (and site submission) services. Good way to tell a bonafide professional from one that maybe read some txtbook on “seo” and hung a shingle.

By: Create a Google XML Sitemap for your website

Create a Google XML Sitemap for your website — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:28:54 +0000

[...] of your website can be helpful in that it enables search engines to better index it, although not everyone agrees. I have written a blog post over at margpress.com about what XML Sitemaps are and how to create [...]

By: Jerry Okorie

Jerry Okorie — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:06:38 +0000

Our sitemap currently has a “warning” basically stating that Googlebot is having issues with 301 redirects one some of our pages. I do wonder if this warning is occurring because of the sitemap, since I didn’t think 301’s were an issue for Google

By: john

john — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:53:37 +0000

To be honest, I am of the opinion that this whole post was written up with linkbait in mind. I have worked on many sites in my time, most of them large corporate sites, not once have I ever seen the addition of a sitemap cause a loss in traffic. Quite the opposite.

The first thing I do is always the creation and submission to Google of an xml sitemap which is automatically updated when new content is added. Why?

Because it gives an instant traffic and indexing boost. Every single time. Whether the site has been 7k pages or 150k pages, the addition of the xml sitemap has always been beneficial.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:34:19 +0000

We are doing an experiment. We have 20 sites of various types and size using the XML sitemap protocol in conjunction with Google Webmaster Tools and we have 20 sites not doing so.
Both groups undergo the same exact SEO tactics and operational scrutiny.
We hope to determine if the sitemaps are a waste of our time and bandwidth or viable and valuable.
We are only 11 days into the experiment. I hope to have some quantifiable results in 30-60 days.

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:52:23 +0000

From my experience, there is plenty of good reason to run an XML sitemap. It’s not a make or break for sure, but it can be advantageous.

Of course if it is breaking something it’s worth removing, fixing the problem and then potentially putting it back, but to tell people NOT to use it for the sake of some issue that arrose andofr which you never had the real reasoning/answer I think is irresponsible.

With the XML sitemap generator for WordPress I am able to get my content into the Google index in as little as 4 minutes, so that’s not to be sniffed at.

Natural crawlability is more than just a sitemap sure, but at the same time it just like anything else in SEO. No one part in itself is make or break, but SEO is about the sum of all parts together.