Can anyone please explain the pro’s and cons for including anything else other than my HTML pages in a Google sitemap. (All my pages are HTML)
I notice that images can be included, but why would you include them? – and anything else for that matter.
Regards,
Bazza
Hello Bazza,
Many people do not include images in their sitemap, but they are missing out on tons of traffic! When you include images in sitemap files, you are informing Google about the location of your images.
Google then indexes these images and includes them in their image search.
For example, go to google and select Images, then type in cake and you will see a list of pictures dealing with cake.
Wow, so my picture is included in Google images, big deal right? Right! Almost everyone clicks on the image to see a larger picture, and when they do they are taken right to your site and they leave Google Images
I have a novelties company with about 3000 products on it, When I read this post I got excited and then thought about what impact this could have on my site map.
Basic question would be, With the number of images and the size of my site, Would it help or hinder me to include images? Based soley on your personal expertise?
Thanks
MattyMan
Hi MattyMan,
In your case, it would probably hinder it. Google will catch a few of the images and once they see a few that does not meet their format, they will probably block any images from that site.
Not that the site is bad, but the images I’m guessing would not make it in google images.
Me – I would do a sitemap and exclude images.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Jim.
Great idea! However, I’m not sure where should I insert this code: on the index page of my site, on the sitemap.xml page, on every page? Please let me know.
Thanks,
DorinG
I insert it on all pages, including my home page.
There is one little gotcha with wordpress blogs. If you create a post or page, then go back in and try to edit it, it will jump you out of your edit screen.
So, on WordPress, you’ll need to edit your header file before and after posts – which can be a pain. Other than WordPress, I have not had any issues and it works great!
Best regards,
Jim.
Hi Jim,
Do you have a breakpoint in mind on when to include or exclude images from the sitemap? MattyMan indicated 3000 and your recommendation was not to include them. Is there a rule of thumb to go by?
Thanks,
Z4K
I don’t – Google picks them up just fine without including them in the sitemap.
I do not know of any offical rule on this.
What format should I be adhering to to ensure that my images do not get blocked?
Thanks in advance for your insight!
Mason
I read that as there is no need to include graphics in your sitemap, just make sure that they are linked to within your pages (which goes without saying..)
I hope that clears things up a bit and thanks for asking for clarification!
Have a great day!
Jim.
I just tried to make a sitemap.xml (after lots of effort to include all pictures and get things sorted out) using your tool (auditmypc.com/xml-sitemap.asp).
I have a small question, hope you can help me out. You mention that it is smart to insert pictures in the sitemap.xml, so thats what I wanted to do. However, when I save the file only html links are inserted (not the .gif/.jpg that are present in the workfile!)
So when spidering my website the tools finds all my pictures, but once exporting to a sitemap.xml file only html links are added?
Regards
Oscar
Hi Oscar,
Thanks for the information and I have corrected the statement on AuditMyPC.com about including images in your sitemap. A few posts back from this one, I explain that Google said it’s not important to include images in your sitemap and that they will find the images from the pages included in your sitemap.
The sitemap generator no longer includes images, so just select ‘Don’t include images" to speed up the processing.
I’m sorry about the confusion!
Have a great weekend!
Jim.
Thanks Jim!
Jim,
This was very helpful. Thank you.
john