In this guide, I will walk you through how to find your XML sitemap on your WordPress website.
Linkmoney App uses the WordPress sitemap in the same way that Google uses it – to quickly locate all the posts on your Amazon Affiliate site.
What is a WordPress sitemap?
A WordPress sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages and posts on a WordPress website in an organized structure for search engines to read and index.
This helps search engines find and index all of the content on a website so that it can be more easily found by visitors.
How do I find my WordPress XML sitemap?
The easiest and most common way to find your WordPress XML Sitemap is to add /sitemap.xml to the end of your website’s URL. It will look something like this:
This does not always work. Because of the importance of SEO and that search engines rely on sitemaps to organize the site content, your sitemap could be configured in a number of ways.
WordPress users can choose many different plugins and services that generate sitemaps. In this article I will go over common sitemap configurations and common sitemap issues.
The great news here is if Linkmoney helps you identify a sitemap issue you were not aware of, fixing it will increase your SEO.
Are ALL your Amazon Affiliate links making you money from your traffic?
Example of a Yoast sitemap.
Most WordPress websites use Yoast.
For those sites that do use Yaost, you will notice that your site URL is renamed to sitemap_index.XML
You can click this link “Example Sitemap“ to see what a Yoast WordPress sitemap looks like.
If you noticed, because I use Yoast on this site, WordPress automatically changed the “/sitemap.xml” to “/sitemap_index.xml”.
Either of those sitemap URL’s above is all you need for Linkmoney App to begin a Baseline Scan on your website.
No worries, though, Linkmoney supports all major sitemap generators. If the sitemap you use in Google Search Console is not showing any errors, then it will work with Linkmoney.
How do I find my Yoast XML Sitemap?
If you want to see the Yoast sitemap from the Yoast plugin, log in to your WordPress website and follow these steps:
1. Look on the “Admin Sidebar”, it is on left side, then Click on the Yoast SEO plugin.
2. Click on “Settings”.
3. Scroll down the page and look for the “APIs” section for “XML Sitemaps”.
4. Click the button “View the XML Sitemap”.
5. View your Yoast XML sitemap.
Linkmoney recommends testing your sitemap prior to running a scan
As you are signing up for Linkmoney, one of the first screens you will see is the “Affiliate Site URL” checker.
We recommend checking your XML sitemap prior to running Linkmoney App.
We have seen instances where a sitemap is being redirected to the home page or can not be found. this is not common, but it happens.
How do I test my WordPress XML Sitemap?
- Simply go to your browser and type in your home page URL. Example: https://www.yourwebsite.com
- Now add either /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml to the URL. Examples: https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml, or https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemape_index.xml.
- Then hit enter. You should be taken to your WordPress XML sitemap.
What if my WordPress Sitemap is redirecting to the homepage?
Is it bad for my WordPress sitemap to redirect?
Yes. It is not advisable to use redirects in your WordPress sitemap. Redirects can cause confusion and can make it difficult for search engines to properly index your website.
If Linkmoney finds your sitemap is being redirected, you should stop and fix it as soon as possible. Then go back to signing up and run it again.
WordPress sitemaps can look different from one another
There are many sitemap.xml generators that will take over your stock WordPress site map. They can all look a little different. This is fine because Linkmoney App can work with all major XML sitemaps.
Bottom line, if Google Search Console accepts it, Linkmoney will too.
Want Linkmoney A.I. to Check and Fix your Amazon Affiliate link problems?
How do I find my XML Sitemap in Google Search Console?
If you are not able to find your sitemap for some reason, or it keeps redirecting, try finding it in Google Search Console.
To find your XML sitemap in Google Search Console, follow these steps:
1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. On the left side of the page, click on the “Sitemaps” section.
3. Once the Sitemaps page loads, you will find a list of all the sitemaps associated with your site.
4. Find the XML sitemap, which should be labeled as “sitemap.xml”.
What if my WordPress website does not have an XML Sitemap?
If your WordPress website does not have an XML sitemap, you should create one. You can use a plugin such as Yoast SEO or Google XML Sitemaps to generate an XML sitemap for your website.
The sitemap you create will help search engines index and rank your website more effectively.
Additional Sitemap Informational Reading
This post is designed to be short and to the point where to find your XML sitemap so you can locate it quickly to begin running Linkmoney App. Here are more sites that get deeper into sitemaps for your reading.
