Multiple XML Sitemaps: Increased Indexation as well as Traffic!

Utilizing XML sitemaps and sitemap indices is an advanced tactic.

What Are XML Sitemaps?

Simply put, an XML sitemap is a bit of Extensible Markup Language (XML), a standard machine-readable format consumable by search engines and other data-munching programs like feed readers.

There are standard single XML sitemaps: one file of XML code explaining to the search engines what pages are important. This is a set of instructions to the search engines, and are more guidelines rather than rules. Posting an XML sitemap is kind of like rolling out the red carpet for search engines and giving them a roadmap of the preferred routes through the site.

From One to Many

The best way to break that out to many sitemaps is a matter of how your site is structured. Do you have a blog based system with categories and content in each category? Do you have sets of products? Or many locations for your business?

Simple: Groups of 100 pages per sitemap (or 1000, or 10000, but try to keep it smaller)
Better: Static Pages (homepage, about, etc.), Products, Blog
Best: Static, Categories, Subcategories, Locations, Blog by Date, etc.