I read all the hype about Google SiteMaps and decided to take a shot at creating one. The first thing I did was read the Sitemap Generator instructions. It talked about installing some Python script and everything seemed very complicated. So I searched around for easier ways.
First I found a WordPress script to automatically create my Google Sitemap XML from a WordPress blog. I tried that out and it worked wonderfully.
Then pcdoc over at DigitalPoint pointed out that you can add just a basic text file with your URLs in it. I used that method on a smaller site and submitted that to Google as well. Both files still have a pending status and I’m eagerly awaiting for them to get accepted.
Both ways that I created my Google Sitemaps were simple and fast. The WordPress script took seconds to create the XML file and the text file method was easy to populate as I already had all the URLs in the sitemap of the website.
I’m still interested in automating it, however that looks more difficult and the easier ways work.
Additional Resources for creating Google Sitemaps:
- Create by hand using Xenu Link Sleuth and MS Excel – via ethangiffin
- Google Sitemap using Cold Fusion – via SEO Scoop
- Google Sitemap tools for 4 blog platforms: Movabletype, WordPress, Textpattern and blogger – via particletree
- Be careful of using the Python site map creation tool offered by Google as evidenced here.
