Google Sitemap

If Google offered you a way to move up would you take it.

Well they do and few people know about it. It is called a Google sitemap. This isn't a regular "site map" people visit online. It is a specially prepared, non-displayed XML file, uploaded to your site that tells Google everything they need to know about how to index your site. Sites that have Google sitemaps get preferential treatment. By Google's own admission having a Google sitemap "speeds up the discovery of your pages and tells us important information about your pages."

Creating and uploading a Google Sitemap isn't difficult. This is what you need to do:

1. Go to Google.com/webmasters and sign up for a Google Webmaster account. Click on "Webmaster Tools." Click on "Create a Google Account." Fill in the form then write down your Google username and password.

2. Create Your Sitemap File - There are dozens of sites that will generate your Google sitemap for free. One is xml-sitemaps.com. Another is sitemapspal.com. Go to one of these sites, enter the URL of your site, and press submit. Their system creates the sitemap. Copy the Sitemap file to the clipboard and paste it into Word Pad. Save the Google sitemap to your Desktop as "sitemap.xml."

3. Upload the Google sitemap to your site placing it the root directory.

4. Go back to Google.com/webmasters and assign your sitemap. Log in. Click Add site and add your site. Select your site, click the Sitemaps tab, and click "Add a Sitemap." Select "Add General Web Sitemap." Type in the URL of your sitemap (from step 3 above) and click "Add Web Sitemap."

That's it. Now you have a Google sitemap.

Don't leave Google's indexing of your site to chance. When you upload a Google sitemap you tell Google how your site is organized and take the guesswork out of indexing. Google knows exactly where every page is and you, the owner of the site, can see how Google will move through the site. A Google sitemap eliminates any possibility of not seeing your entire site, or leaving out important information.

On the Web Google is king. It pays to play ball with the king. Google is telling us how to ingratiate ourselves with them. Fortunately for you most people are too busy to heed what they are telling us. You can talk about marketing or you can DO marketing. A Google sitemap is a quick, effective, free way to DO marketing.