XML Sitemaps
A file that lists every page on your site you want search engines to know about.
What it means
An XML sitemap is a file, usually at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml, that lists every page you want search engines to discover and consider indexing. It's essentially a map you hand to search engines instead of relying entirely on them finding pages through links alone.
Why it matters
Without a sitemap, new or poorly-linked pages can take much longer to get discovered and indexed, especially on a smaller site without many internal links pointing around. It's a small file that removes a lot of guesswork for search engines.
ask datanephew
Do I need a sitemap if my site is small?
It still helps, even on a small site — it's a low-effort way to make sure every page you care about gets found, rather than hoping crawlers stumble onto it.
Can datanephew check if my sitemap is set up correctly?
Ask it to check your site's crawl and indexing status — it can flag whether pages are missing from indexing that should be included via your sitemap.