Welcome to Plugged In, where we take a look at some of the most popular WordPress plugins in various categories. This week, we look into the best plugins to make your WordPress be equipped with a handy sitemap. (For more information on WordPress plugins, download our ultimate guide.)
A sitemap creates easy navigation of your site for web crawlers by organizing its content into an organized model. When your WordPress site has an effective sitemap, this makes it easier for search engines to understand what types of content you’re offering and can improve search engine rankings.
Download any of these plugins to help put together a sitemap of your WordPress site. We have compiled a few of the most popular from the WordPress Plugin Repository.
XML Sitemap & Google News feeds
As the name suggests, this plugin works with the XML Sitemap and the Google News sitemap. This plugin is advertised for its simplicity. You do not need to mess with your site’s settings when installing this plugin. The default settings will be enough to get it working quickly with your site. XML Sitemap and Google News feeds is also compatible with WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and Quick Cache (although we disallow these caching plugins on our platform since WP Engine already does the caching for you).
Simple WP Sitemap
Simple WP Sitemap can generate an XML and HTML sitemap for your site and are updated automatically every time a user visits the site. The plugin maintains itself so you have one less thing to worry about. Additionally, if you want to add pages to your sitemap that weren’t originally on your WordPress site, you have the option to do so.
Simple Sitemap
Did you know adding an HTML sitemap can improve your SEO ranking? Searchers can see child pages and gives your visitors the option to see all your site content in one place when using a search engine. Simple Sitemap shortcode gives you more customizable options.
Lastly, a beloved plugin in the WordPress community Yoast SEO has advanced XML sitemap configuration as well among other great SEO features.
What are your favorite image plugins? Let us know here. And check out our list of the 10 most popular plugins our customers use on our platform.
Surprised you did not include Jetpack, which also has many other great features. One of those other great features is Photon. Photon provides a CDN for images, which is fantastic for WordPress users who are not using WP Engine.