How to Create a Sitemap in WordPress: A Complete Guide

Method: Creating XML Sitemaps in WordPress Websites Manually
Although manually creating the sitemaps in WordPress websites helps specify more exact info for the search engines, the process is more time-consuming. That is especially true if the website has too many links (generally more than 10) to be specified to the search engines. But on the plus side, your sitemap will be more comprehensive.

Let’s start the step-by-step process for the same.

Step 1: First, identify and list the URLs of all pages and posts on your website for your WordPress sitemap. Make sure to include the full URL, starting with “https://” or “http://”, and include the domain name and the page path.

Step 2: To create a WordPress sitemap, first, open a text or code editor, like Notepad (for Windows users) or maybe Nano (for macOS users).

Step 3: Create a new file and save it with the extension “.xml”. For example, “sitemap.xml”.

Step 4: Write the XML Content with the URLs you identified in the first step. Use the proper XML syntax to create the <urlset> element. Nest each URL within its corresponding <url> element, including the required child elements.

Here’s an example.

Step 5: After creating the XML sitemap file and saving it with “.xml”, upload it to the WordPress directory structure either using FTP or hosting cPanel.

Step 6: Once the sitemap is uploaded successfully, it should be accessible via “https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml”.

After you create a sitemap and upload it to the root directory, you may want to validate it through the sitemap validator. All you have to do is enter the sitemap URL in the field. Then click on the “Validate Sitemap” button to check if there are any issues.

Post the creation, uploading, and validation process, we can move forward to submitting the WordPress sitemap to the search engines.

But before that, there is a simpler method to create a sitemap for WordPress websites. We’ll discuss that next. However, if you want to benefit from the flexibility offered by this method but don’t have the necessary experience, there is a way around it. You may get in touch with WordPress experts to create the sitemap manually. They’ll create a tailored WordPress sitemap, so you can have your website crawled by the search engines just the way you want.