Glossary

XML Sitemap

A file that lists all important pages on a website, helping search engines discover and crawl content efficiently - especially important for large inventory sites.

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Technical

What Is XML Sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a structured file that tells search engines about all the important pages on your website, including their last modification date, change frequency, and relative priority. For dealerships with thousands of VDPs that change daily (as vehicles sell and new ones arrive), a dynamically generated sitemap is essential. Best practices include: listing only indexable pages (not blocked by robots.txt or noindex), using accurate lastmod dates (not fake "just modified" timestamps), splitting large sitemaps into sub-sitemaps by section (inventory, content, location pages), and submitting the sitemap through Google Search Console. The sitemap should also include all resource guides, service pages, and location pages.

Related Terms

robots.txt

A text file at the root of a website that tells search engine crawlers which pages they can and cannot access - the basic traffic directive for web crawlers.

Indexation

The process by which search engines add web pages to their database (index), making them eligible to appear in search results.

Crawl Budget

The number of pages Google will crawl on your website within a given time period - critical for large dealership sites with thousands of inventory pages.

Deep-Dive Guides

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