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February 21st, 2011

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From Wikipedia:

A Sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs for a site. It allows webmasters to include additional information about each URL: when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site. This allows search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.

To create a Sitemap for your blog, simply download the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. The plugin will essentially generate an XML Sitemap for you that will make it easier for search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) to crawl and index your pages better.

For a better understanding on why/how sitemaps are helpful, read our detailed blog post: Understanding Google XML Sitemaps.

Once you’ve installed and Activated the Google XML Sitemap plugin, navigate to the “XML-Sitemap” page in your dashboard under your “Settings.” You’ll want to create your first Sitemap by simply following the step-by-step instructions after which you’ll see the following message:

Then, if you’re using dsIDXpress, you can add locations (City, Community, Tract, or Zip) to your XML Sitemap from the dsIDXpress Options dashboard.

(By the way, did you know you can download a Test version of our plugin with test data here… Just sayin’…)

Once you’re done configuring your Sitemap, a URL will be generated that looks like this: yourblog.com/sitemap.xml