Is KML your key to world domination?
Date: April 14, 2014Category: Author: David Hall
Probably not, but it is the key to getting Google to recognize where you provide your services and having Google on your side is certainly one of the keys to world domination.
So what is KML and how do I implement it?
KML is an acronym for keyhole markup language and has been around for more than a decade now.
While its importance continues to grow in a modern SEO strategy, so too has its functionality and capabilities. If you’re looking for a good read on geographic animation implementation, or what IDE options you have for KML development in a python environment you have come to the wrong place (fear not, I have provided some related links below). And we can probably blame Google for that. Or we could all blame me for the keywords I threw out there that are pretty much unrelated to my topic. But like most of us I prefer to blame Google. Regardless of who’s at fault, Google does work very hard to bring you the most relevant search results possible, and through the magic of schema markup and KML we can provide them with a little help.
If you are a small single location business KML is probably not necessary for your SEO clarity.
Some properly placed schema markup will get you everything you need. The following markup with the schema used on this blog was generated at https://schema-creator.org/.
Just use their creation tool and then copy and paste the code into the footer of your site, or anywhere else you would like.
Using KML to help you provide clear, concise data for all your locations.
Keyhole Markup Language, while similar to schema markup allows you to add much more information about your business (ie. mutliple locations), and as such, cannot just be simply added to your website page code. However, there are some great tools out there that will get your KML file up and indexed in no time. If you have any experience with Google webmaster tools you know they exist to help you out. Let’s go through the three-step process of creating, uploading and attaching a KML file to your site.
- Visit https://www.geositemapgenerator.com/ where these kind folks will generate the two files you need (make sure you download both the locations.kml and the geositemap.xml).
- Upload both files to the root directory (usually public_html) of your website with your favorite ftp client.
- Login to your Webmaster tools, or create a new account here. Navigate to the sitemaps tab, click on “add new sitemap” and then supply the location to your new geositemap.xml site map.
That’s it—you’re done!
Keep your sitemaps and information updated
As your business continues down the road to world domination it will probably have to expand, and services will change. It is important to keep your KML file updated as it does. If you find yourself comfortable with the keyhole markup language you can make these edits yourself right in the file, or you can go back to the generation tool and re-create the whole thing (often the simplest option). You can also add as many KML files as you like to the site, so it is possible to just copy the original file and change out the information, but if you do this be sure to link to your new .kml file in the geosites.xml.
Well I hope this helps you out in your relationship with Google. The other major search engines also use XML site maps and KML so you should certainly register your files with their respective webmaster tools. After all, when you are sitting there dominating the world you will want everyone to know it.