As websites grow in size and complexity, it may become necessary to manage multiple sitemaps. Dividing sitemaps by sections, language, or content type can improve the organization and efficiency of website crawling. Specifying multiple sitemaps in your robots.txt file is a simple and effective way to guide search engine crawlers.
This article explains how to specify multiple sitemaps in a robots.txt file and offers tips for optimizing their use.
Why Include Sitemaps in robots.txt?
1. Provide Clear Sitemap Information to Search Engines
Including sitemap URLs in the robots.txt file ensures that search engine crawlers can quickly locate your sitemap files. This improves their ability to understand your site’s structure and crawl your content efficiently.
2. Support for Multiple Sitemaps
Large websites often need multiple sitemaps to manage content effectively. For example:
- Separate sitemaps for blogs, product pages, or videos
- Different sitemaps for content in various languages or regions
- Splitting large sitemaps to comply with Google’s limits (50MB file size or 50,000 URLs per sitemap)
How to Specify Sitemaps in robots.txt
The Basic Format
To include multiple sitemaps, use the Sitemap: directive for each URL and list them on separate lines in the robots.txt file. Here’s an example:
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap1.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap2.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap3.xml
Important Guidelines
- Use Absolute URLs
Each sitemap must be specified using its full URL. For example,https://www.example.com/sitemap1.xmlis correct, while/sitemap1.xmlis not. - List Each Sitemap on a New Line
Multiple sitemaps should be listed on separate lines for clarity and proper parsing by crawlers.
Examples of robots.txt Files with Multiple Sitemaps
1. Basic Sitemap and Image Sitemap
User-agent: *
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/image-sitemap.xml
2. Language-Specific Sitemaps
User-agent: *
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap-en.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap-ko.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap-jp.xml
3. Section-Specific Sitemaps for Large Websites
User-agent: *
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/products-sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/blog-sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/videos-sitemap.xml
Best Practices for robots.txt and Sitemaps
- Place robots.txt in the Root Directory
Therobots.txtfile must be located in the root directory of your website and accessible athttps://www.example.com/robots.txt. - Verify Sitemap URLs
Ensure all sitemap URLs are valid and accessible. Use tools like Google Search Console to submit and test your sitemaps. - Test Your robots.txt File
Use the robots.txt Tester to confirm the file is formatted correctly and functioning as intended. - Check for Compatibility with Crawlers
While most major search engines like Google and Bing support sitemaps listed inrobots.txt, some crawlers may not. Submit sitemaps directly to search engines when possible for maximum coverage.
Advantages of Using Multiple Sitemaps
- Improved Crawling Efficiency
Search engines can focus on specific sitemaps to index content faster and more accurately. - Easier Management
Dividing content into multiple sitemaps allows for better organization and simplifies updates. - Enhanced SEO Performance
Ensures all URLs are crawled and indexed, improving visibility across search engines.
Conclusion
Specifying multiple sitemaps in your robots.txt file is an essential step for large or complex websites. It helps search engines navigate your site more effectively and ensures comprehensive indexing of all your content.
Make sure to regularly check your sitemaps and update your robots.txt file as your website evolves. By doing so, you can maximize your SEO performance and ensure a seamless experience for both users and crawlers.
