For web specialists, generating a Prestashop sitemap is an obvious and straightforward action.
For beginners, or merchants who’ve learned on the job, however, it’s not.
Few people know the process involved.
Perhaps you’re wondering what a sitemap is, what purpose it serves or how to create one.
If so, here are the answers to all your questions.
What is a sitemap?
The sitemap is a natural referencing tool that enables you to easily index your website.
It takes the form of an XML or TXT file containing all the URLs of a site.
It can also be GZIP-compressed.
A good-quality sitemap should contain no more than 50,000 URLs and be no larger than 10 MB.
It should therefore contain all the URLs that are important to you and that you want to appear on search engines.
There are several different types of sitemap.
There are :
- image sitemaps ;
- video sitemaps ;
- and those for pages (classic sitemap).
They may include additional information to help search engines better identify your site.
This often includes the title of an image, the description of a video or the date of the last update.
Examples include the frequency with which the URL is updated, and the priority of the URL in relation to other URLs. 
What is the purpose of a Prestashop sitemap?
It’s difficult to understand the usefulness of a site map without understanding the expression indexing a site.
This refers to the action of creating the conditions for the site’s elements to exist in search engines.
The sitemap is therefore not a tool for boosting a site.
However, with it, you can be sure that the important elements of your page, blog or site exist on the Internet.
A page is said to be indexed when it is present in the index of at least one search engine.
To ensure this, and thus facilitate indexing, you need to submit a sitemap to Google, Bing or Ecosia so that they can add it.
A sitemap is therefore a solution for better indexing of your Prestashop site.
This way, all the elements of your page, site or online store will be better referenced.
Also, by grouping all your URLs, the sitemap brings together all your products with links to their files.
Your visibility will therefore be improved thanks to the sitemap.
How do I create a Prestahop 1.7 sitemap?
There are two main options for creating a Prestashop sitemap.
These are automatic generation of the sitemap by the Google Sitemap Prestashop module, or manual creation using a sitemap generator.
Create a sitemap using the Google Sitemap Prestashop module
Google Sitemap Prestashop is a free tool installed by default in your store to help you create a sitemap.
It’s simple and easy to use. 
- Search for the Google Sitemap Prestashop module in your list of modules and install it.
- Once installation is complete, click on “configure” and a window will appear.
- Indicate update frequency.
- Check the following box to generate images (optional, as it may cause the module to crash).
- Tick all the boxes whose pages are of little interest for your site’s SEO (or which you don’t need for your visibility).
- Then click on Generate sitemap.
- Wait for the sitemap to be created.
The first is the sitemap index.
Regularly updating your sitemaps is important for your page and for better indexing.
You can do this manually, or always with Google sitemap Prestashop.
The CRON tool makes it easier.
To automate your Prestashop sitemap updates with CRON, you need to :
- go to module configuration ;
- locate the URL at the bottom of the form ;
- copy it ;
- and ask your host to run a daily cron job (choose a specific time).
Your Prestashop sitemap will be updated daily.
Create a Prestashop sitemap manually with Sitemap Generator
Sometimes it can be difficult to create a sitemap using the Google Sitemap Prestashop module.
There are several tools available for creating a sitemap manually.
However, it is often recommended to use Simple Sitemap Creator.
This method is both quick and easy.
The following steps will help you get started.
- Install Simple Sitemap Creator.
- In the Site URL module, enter your site URL.
- Then click on the XML tab.
- Press the Go button.
- Wait for the sitemap to be generated.
- Finally, save by pressing Save.
The next stage of the operation involved indexing the Prestashop site.
How do you index your Prestashop sitemap?
This step will help Google to index your page better, so that customers can easily find your site.
To achieve this, you’ll need Google Search Console.
Install it and follow these instructions.
- Register your site with Google Search Console.
- Go to Index/Sitemaps.
- Add the URL of your Prestashop sitemap index.
- Send by pressing the corresponding button.
To ensure that Google indexes your sitemap correctly, you can return to the menu to check it. 
FAQ
Many questions are frequently asked by Internet users about the Prestashop sitemap.
How to calibrate your prestashop 1.7 sitemap?
To properly calibrate your prestashop sitemap, you first need to make sure you’re using a good sitemap generator.
Then, you must rigorously respect each step of the sitemap creation process.
You should also check that your sitemap does not contain any superfluous information.
However, you should identify the best information for your SEO and avoid checking it off when creating sitemaps.
These include history pages, order pages, shopping cart pages, etc.
How do I create a sitemap with prestashop images?
To create an image sitemap with Google Sitemap Prestashop, you need to include the relevant images in your Prestashop site.
Follow the steps for creating an ordinary sitemap, then make sure you’ve ticked the third box (relating to images) in the configurations window.
If all these conditions are met, your image sitemaps will be easily generated.
How to name a prestashop sitemap file?
You can name your file as you wish (with or without sitemap).
However, avoid certain characters such as accents and 6 dashes.
It’s very important to save your file in XML or TXT format.
In the worst case, use the GZIP format.
Why does the sitemap appear in the Prestashop footer?
Sitemaps appear at the bottom of pages to ensure better visibility for search engine spiders.
To conclude on the Prestashop sitemap
Need personalized help creating your Prestashop sitemap?
Contact me today.
As a specialist Prestashop developer, I’d be delighted to help you with your e-commerce project.
