Sitemap

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is a simple file that lists all the pages on your website. Think of it as a roadmap that helps search engines like Google understand the structure of your site and find all your content. By including a sitemap, you make it easier for search engines to crawl your website and display your pages in search results, improving your visibility online.

How to Access the Sitemap for your Website

Real Geeks automatically generates a sitemap for every website we host, so you don’t need to create one yourself. This ensures your site is search-engine-friendly right from the start.

To access your sitemap, add /sitemap.xml to your domain

• For example, if your website is www.website.com, you would enter www.website.com/sitemap.xml.

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Generating Your Own Sitemap

While Real Geeks automatically generates a sitemap for your website, you do have the option to create and upload your own. However, this approach is not recommended unless you have a solid understanding of how sitemaps work and how to format them properly.

An improperly created sitemap can cause issues with search engine indexing, potentially leading to missed or incorrect listings of your website’s pages. For most users, the automated sitemap provided by Real Geeks is the best and most reliable option.

If you’re experienced with sitemap creation and still wish to create your own, make sure it adheres to Google’s Sitemap Guidelines and upload it to your domain. Otherwise, we recommend using the automatically generated sitemap available for your website.

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How to Upload your own Sitemap to your Website

If you choose to use your own sitemap, keep in mind that you will be responsible for manually updating it whenever changes are made to your website. Below are the steps to upload and configure your custom sitemap:

1. Use a text editor or sitemap generator tool to create your sitemap in an XML format
   
   1. save the file as sitemap.xml on your device
2. Upload the sitemap to your website's filebrowser
   1. Go to your website's backend (website.com/admin) → Manage Files
   2. Click Upload
   3. Drag your custom sitemap file into the available space
   4. Click on the filename to open the file in your browser
   5. Copy the link (this would look something like https://u.realgeeks.media/namedirectory/front_of_house.jpg)
3. Create a Redirect
   1. Go to your website's backend (website.com/admin)
   2. Click Redirect
   3. Select Add Redirect
4. Enter /sitemap.xml into the Redirect from field
5. Enter the link to your sitemap file in the filebrowser
   1. The link copied from step 2 (https://u.realgeeks.media/...)
6. Click Save

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