How do I create a Google Sitemaps file?

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Search engines need to "crawl" or "index" your site to take a snapshot of the pages that appear in the search engine.

Some search engines (most prominently Google) can use a "sitemap" file to decide how to crawl the site in a more intelligent manner (for example, by crawling frequently changed pages more often). The site www.sitemaps.org has more details about sitemap files.

We're often asked how to create a sitemap file. There are a couple of common ways to do it:

• XML-Sitemaps Generator Web site
• Google Sitemap Generator

XML-Sitemaps Generator Web site

The Web site at http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ will generate a sitemap file for you if you enter just a few details about your site. This is the easiest way to create the file.

Google Sitemap Generator

For technically advanced users, Google offers a sitemap generator script that you can use. If you're comfortable using the command-line shell and running scripts on the server, this method is more flexible. However, it's not recommended if you don't have experience using the shell.

For full details, please see the Sitemap Generator page on the Google Web site. That page lists six things you'll need to know; here's a summary of that information:

• Google says, "You must be able to connect to and run scripts on your web server." All our web hosting accounts include this feature, using the command-line shell.
• "Your web server must have Python 2.2 or later installed." Our Web servers meet this requirement.
• "You must know the command that launches Python." On our servers, the command to start Python is simply: python
• "You must know the directory path to your site." Enter your domain name at the top of this page to see the path.
• "You must be able to upload files to your web server (for instance, using FTP)." This page describes FTP access.
• "If you will be generating a list of URLs based on access logs, you must know the encoding used for those logs and the complete path to them." The encoding is "US-ASCII". Enter your domain name at the top of this page to see the path.

Once you know these details, you should be able to follow the instructions on the Google Sitemaps page. It lists several different methods; we recommend using the "access log" method.