Did you know that having a supersized sitemap can cause problems with your website’s performance? Continue reading to learn how to quickly and easily fix your site index and optimize it for your e-commerce website. You can learn more about sitemaps and why they’re important by watching the YouTube video by Daniel Waisberg below.
If you want to split your sitemaps for different sites or create multiple sitemaps, learn from this guide created by Google for developers.
What is a Large Sitemap Size?
Google used to allow sitemaps to reach a maximum of 10MB per map. Later, Google changed the limit, and it went up to 50MB. It means that today, the max URL number goes up to only 50,000 URLs.
On the rare occasion that it becomes too big, you’ll receive an error saying your XML files are too large.
What Triggers it?
When you create a website with a sitemap, it has only one by default. It grows when you add many posts, image files, videos, and other entries to your site. When you enable sitemap indexes, you automatically allow the all-in-one SEO composer to split it into smaller parts. Splitting it is the best and safest way to deal with a size that goes beyond the limit. However, you still need to manage your sitemap size, as large sitemaps slow down web crawlers.
How to Check the Issue
In reality, it’s not often that people receive an error about a site index that has grown large enough to surpass its typical limits. But in case the event occurs, you know what you should do to deal with it effectively. The limits mentioned above are important, as they keep your web servers from running slowly. If you notice your website taking forever to load, it can be an indication of a large sitemap.
Sitemap.xml Files being too large check is good for your website but not enough to get good SERP positions!
To detect not only the issue but other kind of site level and page level problems, just make the full site audit.
Why it’s Important to Reduce an Extra-Large Site Index Size
A sitemap is a file that helps search engines like Google understand the structure of your site, learn which pages are essential, and collect valuable information from them. However, if you have a massive site directory, it can bog down search engines that are collecting information from it. It will take the search engines longer to find the links in the map, or they may not be able to discover the links at all.
How to Fix and Simplify Sitemap Size
The first step in reducing the size of your index is to switch to an all-in-one SEO plugin. However, avoid using the Yoast SEO plugin tool. Keep in mind that it can be challenging if you cannot switch out of the Yoast SEO plugin composer.
Next, open the XML sitemap link. Look for the feature called “Enable sitemap indexes.” Check or enable it if the box next to it doesn’t have a check. Finally, refresh the map by updating it.
Because it doesn’t occur often, only a few solutions are available to address the XML issue. If creating multiple sitemaps isn’t enough to solve the issue, submit a ticket immediately. Whether it’s for e-commerce or not, every website has unique needs, and there’s a specific solution for each problem.
