How to Create a Sitemap Page For Your WordPress Blog

A sitemap page allows you to list all of your website content in an A to Z style directory listing. It is designed for visitors so that they can find their way around your website more easily. Due to this, they are sometimes referred to as an HTML sitemap or a site index. The page does not have to list every single page on your website. Many websites use a sitemap page to list all of their pages and use an archive page to list all of their blog posts.

In this tutorial, we will show you how you can make a sitemap page for your WordPress blog. The plugin that we have used for this tutorial is WP HTML Sitemap.

Please note that there is a difference between an HTML sitemap and an XML sitemap. HTML sitemaps can help with SEO, however they are primarily created for users. XML sitemaps are used to show search engines where all your pages are and advise how often your pages should be crawled. They are created specifically for search engines and are not intended to be viewed by users.

How to Create a Sitemap Page For Your WordPress Blog

WP HTML Sitemap can be downloaded directly from the official WordPress plugin directory. Alternatively, you can download it through your WordPress admin area. You can do this through the “Add New” page of your plugin section. Simply search for “WP HTML Sitemap”, install the plugin and then activate it.

The settings area for WP HTML Sitemap is located within the settings section of your admin area.

The plugin will automatically create a sitemap for you. The general settings area allows you to customise the page that is created. You can change the title of your sitemap to something different if you like (e.g. Site Index) and change the URL of the sitemap by changing the page slug. By default, the sitemap is created using a page, however you can change this to a post. You can also allow comments, pingbacks and trackbacks.

WP HTML Sitemap will display four different sections: Authors, Categories, Pages and Posts. These sections can be reordered and specific sections can be excluded from the sitemap.

The pro version of the plugin allows you to configure authors, categories, posts and pages further. Unfortunately, the pro version of the plugin is no longer available (it seems the developer did not renew his domain).

The sitemap is added to the created sitemap page using the shortcode [wp_html_sitemap]. You can add your sitemap to any page or post by adding this shortcode to the content area.

The generated sitemap looks great with all links placed into sections in alphabetical order. Lastly, you should place a link to the sitemap in your footer or in one of your navigation menus.

We hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on creating a sitemap page for your blog.

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