If you want to get more hits to your Blog making your blog ‘search engine friendly’ is an absolute must.Sitemaps basically show Google search bots you recent activity quicker and without the bells and wistles than can cause crawl errors (Dirthy words to a blogger).
Im always trying to provide better tips and improve the tutorials when possable and this post has been updated from the original to include a second sitemap.Why? The first sitemap only contains your 26 most recent posts ! If you have more than 26 posts they are not indexed.You should still add both sitemaps, the more the better.
In earlier posts i posted tips on changing the default title tags of your blog and adding a meta title and description both great tricks in their own right.
There is a number of ways to generate a sitemap for blogs and websites, here on blogger generating a sitemap and submitting it to Google can be done in 5 minutes and can be achieved by even the least experienced Blogger.
What Is A Site map ?
“Site maps can improve search engine optimization of a site by making sure that all the pages can be found. This is especially important if a site uses a dynamic access to content such as Adobe Flash or JavaScript menus that do not include HTML links.
They also act as a navigation aid by providing an overview of a site’s content at a single glance.
Most search engines will only follow a finite number of links from a page, so if the number of links is very large, the site map may be required so that search engines and visitors can access all content on the site”
(source :Wikipedia)
We have 3 sections to complete this tip
- Getting your sitemap address
- Submitting your blog to Google webmaster tools
- Submitting your Sitemap to Google webmaster tools
So lets see how its done :
Sitemap 1.
I will show you how this is done for future referance.
- Getting the sitemap address
Step 1.
Go to your blog and look at your blogs address in the browser at the top of the page it will be :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/
or if you have a custom domain :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.com/
Mine is http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/
Step 2.
Add the following to the end of your blogs URL :
robots.txt
So now you have :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/robots.txt
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.com/robots.txt
Mine is http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/robots.txt
Click enter or go to go to the address
Step 3.
Now once you go to this page it will look like this :
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Sitemap: http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
Mine looks like this :
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Sitemap: http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
Above as i have highlighted in red is your site map address – that’s it as far as getting the site map.
Keep this you will need it later.
Sitemap 2.
I will just give you the default ‘atom 500’ address :
- atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
Now you can Submit your site map to Google.
- Submitting your blog to Google webmaster tools
Step 1.
If you do not already have a webmaster tools account to do this you go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ you can log in to webmaster tools with your Google account the same details you log into blogger with.
Webmaster tools is a Great source of information to see exactly how Google sees your blog but that’s another days work..
Step 2.
On the homepage if you have not already submitted your site to webmaster tools click ‘Submit A Site’ .
You can submit your blog URL.Note: just submit your URL here http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com we enter the site map address later.
You will have to verify that you own the blog this is straight forward follow the steps provided by Google.
For mor help adding your site click here
Once you are verified as the owner of the blog we can carry on.
You are now ready to submit your sitemap.
Step 1.
- Submitting your Sitemap to Google webmaster tools
Click on your blog address in your webmasters dashboard you will arrive on this page.In the left sidebar click ‘site configuration’ as shown below ::
Now in the drop down click ‘sitemaps’ as below :
| Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below. This is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank. |
Click ‘Submit Sitemap’ as circled in red below and enter the site map you generated earlier:
- feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
As you can see circled in blue below your URL is already there so just type or paste in : feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
Click submit.
Now enter the second sitemap :
- atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
Click submit.
Your sitemaps have been added and the Google bots are heading your way.Why not now Submit A Sitemap To Yahoo.
This is one of the many ways we can help our blogs get ranked higher in search results to see some of the other posts on this S.E.O. Blog Tips.
Dont worry if you struggle first time just take your time and let me know how you get on or if you have some trouble.
How well does your blog rank in Google? Have you any tips that you found successful?
~Seems like a really obvious trick that most people should know but I remember when I started out blogging I had no idea about stuff like this. I was just waiting for ever to try and get some traffic but it would never happen but no that I realize how to do it you can pretty much get a blog listed on Google in a couple of minutes like you say! Good advice for people starting off 🙂
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Hi Niall,
As i said its so important to make your blog search engine friendly and help Google help you.
I see so many people in the help forum asking why their blog isnt indexed by Google.
I still try to do at least 1 thing every week to help my blogs search rank.
Content will always be king when it comes to ranking high in search results but making your content easy for search bots to find and taking control of how it is seen by search engines goes a long way as well.
Paul.
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thank you so much! u have very useful tips! i appreciate your time to do this for people like me who dont know anything about increasing traffic… 🙂 have a good day 🙂
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Your welcome ann,
You can do a lot of things to help your blog that are much easier than you may think.
Keep Blogging..
Paul.
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still dont know how to work this
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hello,
thanks for this wonderful post.
it is really informative post, the tips aew really amazing .
which helps me alot.
thanks for sharing.
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hello, thanks for this post it really answer my question on how to be index by google but I need some help from you. As I follow the step by step instructions I can’t submit the 2nd sitemap which is the atom.xml it says” this URL is not allowed for a sitemap on this location” and I don’t understand. Hope you can help me.
thank you.
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Hi Ghirly,
A sitemap is actually a web page in the same form as the page you see when you click a feed link or icon.
The second sitemap is a web page containing up to 500 posts.
I just went to the ‘atom 500’ sitemap for your blog.
Check it out :
http://ghirlyblogz.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
It’s working fine and should be accepted.so we must have made an error submiting it.As you can see in the third image for step 1 above you only need to submit the sitemap part because your URL is already included.
Another error people make is if they copy and paste the sitemap the leave a space at the start.
Try to submit again, if needed type it into the area provided and double check – and if it does not work let me know and we will look further into it.
Paul.
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Heyy really ! u r cool !! really coool means cool !!
thanks buddy i was searching for such a post by which we can add out blog to google !
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I have got very informative and valuable information from this blog really i have impressed after reading it i woulld like to say thanks for sharing it to every one please keep it up
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hey paul..I need your help please do help me. after submitting both the links I can see a cross sign for my site map ( that is http://tutorialszip.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated for thos ) why is that ? please get me an ans..thanx alot
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hey i followed what u said..but i get a cross sign got my sitemap..why is that ? and after clicking verify..it went to another page there is saw “site no indexed”
please help me..thnx alot ! u rock !
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@Buisness Blogging thanks for your Great comment i intend to keep bringing great tips and tutorials.
@Karthik The cross sign would suggest they were not able to crawl that sitemap on the first attempt.
Often it will take 24-36 hours for your sitemap to register.Make sure you have the exact sitemap submitted, if it’s correct just wait for a day or two.
At that stage the red x should be replaced by a green tick or correct sign.If its not replaced by sunday let me know.
Paul.
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Oh okay. Hey paul…i think i have pasted the mega tag
in my xml code. Will that be the reason why my site is not getting the “TICK” sign ? Can i give the xml code ? Thankx alot for helping me ! Only you are the one who have made such a blog for the beginners ! KEEP IT UP ! I really like it ! 🙂
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oh sorry MISTAKE – I HAVE PASTED THE MEGA TAG WRONG IN MY XML CODE. THANK YOU !
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Ok so you have it fixed now Karthik ?
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Oh no ! I dont think so ! I said you this because – google said me to place the link in the xml code. I tried two times and i was in the same page. in the third try i verified and went to another page. There i saw SITE NOT INDEXED. So am asking you is that mistake i have done ? May i send you my xml code? what should i do now ? Thankx alot for your help
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I still have the cross sign ! 🙁 Thank you for your help !
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thank you so much paul!
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Only thing i forgot to do is submit my robot.txt sitemap
thanks theemolab
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paul new posts is not shown in the google custom search box???
need help…???
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@ Pree T – I presume it’s because the posts had not been crawled by Google yet but not sure.It’s a question for Google really..
Paul.
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bt when i was set my own blog search box its shown only first 26 or 30 posts not all…!!
is it any solution og that i thnk its shown only posts in the rss feed…!!
action=”/search”
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paul wat is this <<>>>
its a no.of url shown in result or total no. of urls from urs website crawl by the google CSE….????
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Thanks for the information. You help make SEO easy for the rest of us– and I sure appreciate it. I’ll be checking out more of your tips for sure!
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For blogger on blogspot, Tools for Webmasters told me about file robots.txt – unsuported file format. Is this possible?
What I doing wrong?
This is very interesting and I would like have 2 site maps if it possible.
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i need help please. I followed the steps but Webmaster is saying i have crawl errors because of “Restricted by robots.txt”. Did this happen because of these two site maps I added? Do you know how I can undo this so the crawlers do not avoid my pages? thanks
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nice one..you are really helping me..tqvm
doublecrafter
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Thanks a lot Paul! I’m amazed to see how complex internet is.Too complex.
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By FAR the best blog on SEO and the most helpful for new bloggers. Really appreciated!
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Thanx dude, its Really helpful for me 🙂
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Hello Spiceurpyourblog!
how would i know that i’ve already submitted the sitemap? is their any notification?
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Asalam-O-Alaikum Bro. How can i add second sitemap plz tell me. when i add second sitemap gives me eror http eror not found 404…. plz tell me sloution…. for this eror..
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I was wondering if we could get an update on this or a different post describing how to submit on bing. Yahoo and Bing have merged apparently and bing is not very intuitive on where to upload the sitemap. As always love the site and use it on a regular basis.
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Paul, you really work hard on this site and we get useful tips from you. I always check your site for new updates and a great fan of you. luv u a lot. Keep going. Best of luck.
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thanks for this.still i havent got your rply from my 1st post but i have additional question
atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
is that your 2nd sitemap? so about mind 2nd sitemap? how to find my 2nd sitemap code? so that i will add it.. thanks
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you can also use custom robot.txt in your blogger settings.
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HELLO,
what a information hats off to you really informative and useful too,i will definitely use this.
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I so much appreciate this post. But sir, i have been having a challenge with my blog, and i notice it was when i did the meta description. My traffic dropped from 1900 per day to like 300. am confused and i don’t know what to do. Thanks sir. will really appreciate if you help me
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