XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. Its primary purpose is to store and transport data. It’s a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation that was designed as a flexible, independent, and self-descriptive tool.

XML shares some similarities with HMTL as both contain markup symbols that describe pages or a file’s content. However, they were designed for different purposes.

At its core, HTML defines a webpage’s content only regarding how it’s displayed. It focuses on how specific data looks in terms of text and graphic images.

XML, on the other hand, was created only to carry data. Everything is embedded within the data, and there’s no need to pre-load its structure to store information.

How is an XML document formed?

Similar to HTML, this markup language also uses tags to define its elements. All properties have a beginning and an ending tag. Additionally, an XML document has a ‘root element.’ This is the tag that contains all other items within the file.

One benefit of using XML for any SEO company is that it supports hierarchical structures. Web developers are able to create ‘nested’ elements that serve as elements within elements. Two features are used to describe all properties written in an XML file:

 – They describe the content of the item.

 – They are responsible for providing the given relationship between elements.

What are the advantages of XML?

The most significant benefit that this language brings comes down to one factor: simplification. XML can facilitate the following actions:

 – Data sharing

 – Data transport

 – Platform changes

 – Data availability

Since XML is an independent language, it’s capable of storing data in plain text format. Thus, expanding or upgrading to new operating systems, applications, or browsers is extremely easy. And the best part? It does everything without ever losing data.