How do I use sitemaps to improve SEO?
Purpose
To describe what a sitemap is, where to find it in Aphix Management Interface and how to submit a sitemap to Google.
Introducing terms and concepts used in this article
Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Search engine optimization | (SEO), a method of attracting more organic traffic to your website (in this case, WebShop) by making it appear higher on search engine results pages. |
Sitemap | a file containing a list of the key pages in your WebShop, used by search engines to find products and content. |
Uniform resource locator (URL) | (URL), the address of a website. |
More information
What is a sitemap?
Where do I find it in Aphix Management Interface?
Sitemaps are automatically generated when your WebShop is created. You can view the following four sitemaps:
All links on your WebShop
CMS only links
Product only links
Category only links
Typically, you submit the sitemap that contains all site links to Google (the first sitemap shown on the screen). However, there may be file limit size to what you can submit to Google, so if you have a large catalogue or a very content-rich WebShop, you may need to submit the other three sitemaps that have been generated. Read the Google sitemap documentation for more information on this.
To view these sitemaps, log into Aphix Management Interface, select Web Settings, and then Sitemaps.
Click on the sitemap you wish to use. This opens an XML file containing the associated links.
How do I submit a sitemap to Google?
Submitting a sitemap to Google simply means that you are telling Google where to find the sitemap for your WebShop.
Follow this guide provided by Google: Submit a sitemap. This allows Google crawl and index your WebShop, and thus improve your search results.
Recommendation
Only submit a sitemap using your live site URL.
Never submit a sitemap using an URL that contains aws.aphix.