How well do you know the structure of your own website?
If your site is small, you probably have a pretty good idea of what links up to what.
But if you have a large site…
Pages within pages, menus within menus…
It can get kind of messy.
Understanding your website structure is important for various reasons.
You’ll be relieved to know that you don’t have to go and do it manually!
I’ve put together a list of the top sitemap generator tools to help.
There’s something for everyone here.
Whether you’re new to this or quite experienced…
One of these tools will be the right one for you.
Check them out!
What Is a Sitemap?
Let’s first nail down what a sitemap actually is.
In a nutshell, it's a list of all the pages on a site that are accessible to site crawlers.
This allows you to get an overview of the entire site, how the pages relate to each other, and gives you a good idea of if the site is organised in a logical way or not.
Sitemaps come in a variety of different types, depending on their function and their audience.
What Are the Different Types of Sitemaps?
Not all sitemaps are the same. Each one has a different purpose.
Visual
These show how the content of your website is arranged.
It’s easier to get a good idea of what links up to what in visual format!
They can come in a variety of designs, but most seem like a sort of mind map of content.
XML
These are basically a list of URLs within your website, for search engines to crawl and index.
Some website platforms, like Squarespace and Shopify, create these automatically.
HTML
HTML sitemaps aren’t used that much these days.
They’re found on websites and their purpose is for visitors to figure out quickly and easily where all website pages are.
For SEO purposes, they’re less useful than XML sitemaps.
So most websites don’t need one of these!
Why Would You Need a Sitemap?
Sitemaps are used for a variety of things.
Here are some common reasons you might need a sitemap:
- Your site is very large and Google web crawlers could overlook new pages
- Some of the pages in your site archive are isolated or not linked logically
- Your website doesn’t have a lot of external links to it yet
- There’s a lot of media content on your website
- You’re planning on doing a website content audit as part of your content marketing strategy
- You’re planning on doing a website redesign on your existing website
- Visitors struggle to find the pages they’re looking for on your site
- Multiple people are working on your website at any given time
On the flip side, though, you probably don’t need a sitemap if:
- You have fewer than 500 pages on your website
- You have a lot of internal links on your pages
- Media isn’t very common on your site
Ultimately, the main reasons you might want a sitemap…
Is to make it easier for Google to index your pages and media…
Or to make it easier for readers to find stuff on your website.
What Is a Sitemap Generator?
Creating your own sitemap can be tricky.
It takes quite a bit of time… Which you may not have to dedicate to this project.
Which is why sitemap generators are so useful.
Instead of making yours manually…
A sitemap generator will render one for you with minimal effort on your part.
Sitemap generator do two specific jobs:
- Create a visual sitemap for your reference
- Create XML sitemaps for easier indexing
So in the end, using a sitemap generator tool saves you time and frustration.
Top Sitemap Generator Tools
There are plenty of sitemap generator tools out there.
If you need a sitemap, you won’t struggle to find a tool that can help.
Here are some of the sitemap generator tools I particularly like.
1. Google Sitemap Generator
This is super easy, because it’s a simple plugin.
Add it to your site, and you have a quick, easy way of generating both visual and HTML sitemaps.
If you have a WordPress site, Google Sitemap Generator is the way to go!
Its sitemap meets all Google requirements, making it easy for your pages to be indexed.
And best of all, it’s completely free.
2. Screaming Frog XML Sitemap Generator
Screaming Frog is actually an SEO tool, but it also includes a sitemap generator.
The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 URLS, so it’s great if you need one for a smaller site.
If your site has more than 500 pages, you’ll need the paid version.
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For $149 per year, you can:
- Crawl as many pages as you need to
- Find broken links throughout your site
- Analyse your page titles and metadata
- Create both visual and XML sitemaps
- Include/exclude certain directories from your sitemap
- Allocate priorities to URLS
- JavaScript rendering
- Third-party integrations
- Free tech support with paid version
You’ll need to download it and install it on your computer, but it works like a charm.
3. DYNO Mapper
If you want a visual sitemap, DYNO Mapper is a great one to choose.
You can choose from a variety of different styles, depending on what’s easier for you (or others) to read and understand.
The sitemap generator can crawl up to 200,000 pages.
It will sort your pages using Google Analytics, but you can then categorise the pages and rearrange their hierarchy.
You’ll also be able to export your sitemap as a PDF.
The bad news?
DYNO Mapper’s sitemap generator isn’t a standalone feature.
It comes in a package with other tools, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing…
But may be more than you want or need.
Pricing begins at $49.95 a month, depending on which package you’d like.
4. XML-Sitemaps.com
This handy website has something for everyone.
You can make use of the free online sitemap generator, which allows you to create an XML or HTML sitemap for a site of up to 500 pages.
For bigger websites, you’ll need a paid version, although it’s quite affordable at $3.49 a month.
It allows you to crawl up to 1.5 million (!) URLS and has a bunch of advanced features, like:
- Automatic updates
- RSS feed
- Find broken links
- Page priority allocations
- Include/exclude pages
- Submit directly to search engines
- Manage multiple websites
- Create news and video sitemaps
You can easily download your sitemap, and it also supports multiple languages.
5. Inspyder
Inspyder is actually an SEO software that you run on your computer.
But it offers a great sitemap generator as well.
You can buy the sitemap generator on its own for $39.95.
Or, if you need more tools, you can go for one of their bundle deals.
You can do a free trial version before buying! (up to 25 pages)
One of the cool things about this sitemap generator is that you can schedule a sitemap in advance and get an email notification when it’s complete.
You can also generate a sitemap in a variety of different formats.
6. WriteMaps
This is a great sitemap generator tool for those who would prefer to put their own sitemap together, but want to do it in the fastest, easiest way possible.
The free version of WriteMaps allows you to generate a sitemap for up to 50 pages.
You can do three different sitemaps before you need to upgrade to the paid version.
It’s still relatively affordable, at $14.99 for 10 sitemaps, or $29.99 for unlimited.
WriteMaps is a drag-and-drop sitemap builder.
It’s great for small websites.
The pro versions allow you to create colour coded pages, group your pages in sections, and it offers content gathering tools as well.
Within your map you can also format the page content and add meta description.
Finally, you can download it in a variety of formats or share it online.
7. Yoast SEO
Yoast is a superb free SEO tool that every WordPress user should have!
It’s excellent for nailing the SEO of each web page and getting your readability right too.
Many people don’t realise that it has a sitemap generator too, up to 1,000 pages.
And the best part is you can do it with the free version!
(although if you want the advanced SEO features, you’ll need to pay $89 a year)
You can easily create and submit sitemaps to Google, regardless of which version you’re using.
Conclusion
You may never need a sitemap.
But there’s always a chance that it could be handy for a project, website revamp, or making things easier for your readers.
Thankfully, these tools are easy to access, easy to use, and many of them are free.
If you need a sitemap for any reason, there’s a sitemap generator tool here for you!
You can definitely do it manually if you have the time.
But the best sitemap generator tools make life easier.
Bookmark this list for future use!
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