Feb 5, 2023
Where is the Sitemap on BigCommerce?
E-commerce platforms can be complex terrain, even for seasoned online store-owners. One such dilemma many often face is locating the sitemap on the BigCommerce website. If this sounds familiar, Epic Design Labs, a leading BigCommerce development agency, has got you covered. Our CEO, Kal, not only understands the intricacies from a store owner's perspective but also as a developer. In a recently released video, he offers an insightful guide on where to locate your sitemap on BigCommerce.
Understanding the Two Types of Sitemaps
For many, the term 'sitemap' may be singular in their vocabulary, but did you know there are two types of sitemaps?
Visual Sitemap: This is an HTML page where you can see links leading to the significant areas on your site. It's accessible via the sitemap link that's commonly found in your footer and directs you to sitemap.php. Most themes automatically include this when installed. This sitemap serves as a beacon for various crawlers to discover the pivotal sections of your site.
XML Sitemap: This is probably the one you're on the hunt for. This BigCommerce sitemap URL is positioned at URL/xmlsitemap.php, this is the one you submit to search engines like Google. The intent is to help crawlers navigate your site efficiently, accelerating the indexing process. And guess what? This is a hard-coded URL, meaning it is uniform across various themes. This is the one you want to give to Google Search Console to improve your performance on their search engine.
Diving Deeper: XML Sitemap Structure
The XML sitemap index isn’t just a simple list. Instead:
It comprises four to six main links, which lead to what Kal affectionately terms sub-sitemaps or lower-level sitemaps.
These sitemaps segregate the content into categories, ensuring Google's search engine crawlers seamlessly navigate through them. Submitting just the BigCommerce XML sitemap dot php link to Google suffices, as their technology dives into each of these subsequent links.
Are you curious to see this website in action? Visual demonstrations always simplify complex topics. Click to watch the video above and let Kal guide you through the nuances of the BigCommerce sitemap.
Watch the video above to learn more.
Video Transcript:
(Where is the Sitemap on BigCommerce?)
Are you guys looking for your sitemap on the BigCommerce site? Let me show you where it is. Before we get started, my name is Kal and I'm a store owner, just like you, as well as a developer of big commerce stores as of 2010. Let me show you guys where it is. Let me share my screen.
Understanding the Two Types of Sitemaps
First of all, there are two different sitemaps that you should know about. There's a sitemap index file, a visual sitemap and an XML sitemap. You're probably looking for the XML sitemap for Google Search Console and other search engines, but I just want to make sure that you understand that there are two. So if you click the sitemap link that's in your footer, Usually, when you install a theme, it takes you to sitemap.php. Now this is what I call a visual sitemap, because it's an actual HTML page where you can see links to, you know, all the most important places on the pages of your site, which is really good. And you know, you want to leave this in your footer so that the different crawlers can find it there. So where is the Sitemap on BigCommerce?
Locating the XML Sitemap for Search Engines
The other one is the one that you give to Google in Google Search Console, which is found at XML sitemap dot php. So you just put that after a slash after your domain name. And this will work on every big commerce store. This is a hard-coded URL. This is a hard-coded URL as well. So both of these are going to be the same no matter which pages or what theme you're on or whatever. XML sitemap dot php is the one that you're going to give to Google and other crawlers if you want to submit it to all of these sites for them to crawl your site faster.
Diving Deeper: XML Sitemap Structure
The way that it works in here is when you come into XML sitemap dot php. There's basically just, you know, four or five, maybe six links depending on what all you have on here. And these actually refer to subsitemaps. I don't know if that's the right way to call it, but, like, lower-level sitemaps, right? So if you click and follow the link to this, it'll basically take you to another sitemap file that has all of just keywords for your categories. And Google already knows how to crawl this; they know how to get to it. All you have to do is give them the URL to this in Google Search Console, and they will go into each of these links. You know the links that come off of it. So this is probably what you're looking for. XML sitemap dot php is the other one.
Hopefully, you found this useful. If not, leave me a comment. Let me know what you guys are stuck on. And if you need help with your store, reach out to me at epicdesignlabs.com. I'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much.