It can be incredibly frustrating to translate your website content accurately, only to find that search engines are not displaying it to your new audience. Recently, a reader reached out to us about this issue, which was caused by the absence of a multilingual sitemap.
This challenge is surprisingly common among website owners. If your sitemap is not configured correctly, all your translation efforts may go unnoticed, preventing your content from reaching the intended audience.
At CanadaCreate, we operate a large multilingual site and have optimized our approach to this issue. We understand that having a correctly set up sitemap is crucial for proper indexing.
In this guide, we will walk you through the most effective method for creating a multilingual sitemap in WordPress. This will enable search engines to discover and rank all of your translated content effectively.
Why Should You Create a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress?
A sitemap is a file that lists all the essential content on your WordPress website. It is formatted in XML and is designed for search engines rather than human readers.
Generating an XML sitemap for your multilingual website allows search engines to locate and index your content more efficiently.
If you have your content translated into several languages, whether on different domains, subdomains, or in sub-folders, you’ll need a unique sitemap for each language.
A reliable SEO plugin simplifies this process by generating a main sitemap index that connects to each language-specific sitemap.
Important Note: If you’re seeking a straightforward method to establish a multilingual website, follow our step-by-step guide on creating a multilingual WordPress site with ease.
A sitemap is crucial for your WordPress SEO. When you launch a new multilingual website, it may lack backlinks, making it challenging for search engines to find your new articles and pages.
The sitemap helps search engines discover your new content in different languages, ensuring that your multilingual pages get indexed and show up in search results.
Now, let’s explore how to create a multilingual sitemap in WordPress.
Creating a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress
By default, WordPress generates an XML sitemap for new websites automatically. You can view it by adding wp-sitemap.xml to the end of your domain, and WordPress will present the default XML sitemap.
This feature has limited capabilities and lacks flexibility. You cannot choose which content to add or remove from the sitemap.
The most effective way to generate an XML sitemap in WordPress is by using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. It is the top SEO plugin for WordPress, designed to enhance your site’s visibility in search engine results.
When paired with popular translation plugins like WPML or TranslatePress, it automatically generates the appropriate sitemaps for your multilingual website, allowing you to manage which pages and sections to include.
The sitemap feature is included in the free AIOSEO Lite version. However, for additional features such as video sitemaps, news sitemaps, a redirections manager, and a link assistant, we recommend upgrading to the AIOSEO Pro version.
First, install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. If you need assistance, please refer to our guide on installing a WordPress plugin.
Once activated, you’ll encounter the AIOSEO setup wizard. Click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button and follow the on-screen instructions. For further information, visit our guide on setting up All in One SEO for WordPress.
Next, navigate to All in One SEO » SitemapsAccess your WordPress dashboard and make sure the ‘Enable Sitemap’ option is activated.
AIOSEO will automatically generate a sitemap for your multilingual website.
You can click the ‘Open Sitemap’ button to view it or simply append sitemap.xml to your website URL.
What you are seeing is probably a sitemap index. This primary file serves as a table of contents, linking to other sitemaps for your posts, pages, and various languages. This organization is beneficial for search engines!
If you are using WPML to build multilingual sites, AIOSEO will automatically provide sitemaps in different languages.
For example, your sitemap URL might look like
l/sitemap.xml
de/sitemap.xml
fr/sitemap.xml
If you are using TranslatePress for your WordPress multilingual site, you will need to install their SEO pack add-on, which is fully compatible with AIOSEO.
Configuring Additional Settings for Multilingual Sitemaps
To further personalize your multilingual sitemaps, scroll down in the AIOSEO Sitemaps settings to explore more options.
By default, the plugin allows you to include all types of posts and taxonomies in your sitemap. It also provides options to include date archives and author-specific sitemaps.
You can deselect the ‘Post Types’ and ‘Taxonomies’ options to reveal additional settings.
For instance, if you have translated content categorized as a custom post type, you can easily select that option to include it in the sitemap while excluding other post types.
Additionally, you can incorporate more pages from your multilingual website into the sitemap.
For example, if you have a custom HTML landing page on your domain that is not part of WordPress’s posts or pages, you can manually add its URL here to ensure it is included in your sitemap.
Simply scroll down and click the ‘Additional Page’ toggle to activate this option. After that, you can input the page URL and set its priority and frequency.
AIOSEO allows you to exclude specific posts, pages, and terms from your WordPress sitemaps.
For example, you can exclude various multilingual posts and pages that you do not wish to include in the sitemap.
These may consist of internal ‘thank you’ pages that users see after submitting a form or special promotional landing pages that you prefer not to display in search results.
Begin by activating the ‘Advanced Settings’ feature. After that, input the URLs in the ‘Exclude Posts / Pages’ section and the relevant terms in the ‘Exclude Terms’ section.
How to Submit Your Multilingual Sitemap to Search Engines
After creating your multilingual sitemap, the next important step is to submit it to various search engines. This ensures that Google, Bing, and other search engines can easily discover your new content.
How to Submit Your Multilingual Sitemap to Google
Google Search Console is a complimentary tool provided by Google that allows you to track your website’s performance in search results. It enables you to see the keywords users are searching for to find your site and to fix any issues that may hinder your visibility on Google.
Submitting your multilingual sitemap to the Search Console allows Google to quickly identify your new content.
Simply log into your account and navigate to the ‘Sitemaps’ option in the left menu. Then, enter your multilingual sitemap URL in the ‘Add a new sitemap’ field and click the ‘Submit’ button.
For further information, please refer to our comprehensive guide on submitting your website to search engines.
How to Submit Your Multilingual Sitemap to Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo
You can also submit your sitemap to Bing through their Webmaster Tools. The great advantage is that when you submit your site to Bing, it is automatically submitted to Yahoo and DuckDuckGo as well.
For detailed instructions, check out our step-by-step guide on adding your website to Bing Webmaster Tools.
Common Questions About Multilingual Sitemaps
We frequently receive inquiries on how to effectively manage sitemaps for websites in multiple languages. Here are answers to some of the most common questions.
1. Should I create a separate sitemap for each language?
Yes, this is considered best practice for multilingual SEO. A reliable SEO plugin like All in One SEO will automatically generate a distinct XML sitemap for each language on your site (e.g., /fr/sitemap.xml for French). This setup helps search engines easily locate, crawl, and index the appropriate language version of your pages.
2. What distinguishes an XML sitemap from an HTML sitemap?
An XML sitemap is specifically designed for search engines. It outlines all your key content, assisting bots in indexing your site more effectively.
An HTML sitemap is a dedicated page on your website that helps visitors easily locate content and navigate your site. Both HTML and XML sitemaps serve different purposes and are beneficial in their own ways.
How can I verify if Google has indexed my multilingual sitemap?
To check your sitemap’s status, log into Google Search Console and select your property. Navigate to the ‘Sitemaps’ report in the menu. If your sitemaps have been submitted correctly, you will see a ‘Success’ status indicating that Google has processed them.
Does WordPress automatically generate a multilingual sitemap?
While WordPress generates a basic XML sitemap by default, it lacks the necessary features for effective multilingual support. To properly manage a multilingual site, it’s crucial to utilize a specialized SEO plugin like All in One SEO to ensure that sitemaps are accurately created for all languages and content types.
Comprehensive Guides on WordPress Sitemaps
Now that you’ve learned how to create a multilingual sitemap, you might find these additional articles on WordPress sitemaps helpful.
- What Is an XML Sitemap? A Guide to Creating a Sitemap in WordPress
- How to Create an HTML Sitemap Page in WordPress
- How to Easily Add an RSS Sitemap in WordPress
- A Beginner’s Guide to Submitting Your Website to Search Engines
- How to Request Google to Recrawl URLs on Your WordPress Site
- Step-by-Step Guide to Adding Your WordPress Site to Google Search Console
- How to Easily Disable the Default Sitemap in WordPress
We hope this article has helped you understand how to create a multilingual sitemap in WordPress. Additionally, check out our expert SEO tips for optimizing your blog posts and our top recommendations for the best keyword research tools to enhance your SEO performance.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.
