Site Maps

© Illa Maden November 2006

The importance of site maps gets mixed Reviews                                                       

Site maps may not get a lot of traffic from human visitors. I may be an exception, I find myself often looking at site maps. But according to statistics, site maps are not often used.

So why have site maps?

Site maps are easy to create and do have benefit. From a SEO standpoint it is good to have at least one site map. By putting up a site map, you make it easier for the search engines to spider your website.

An HTML site map, the kind even humans could see, can easily be created. Your HTML site map should feature at least the main pages of your website. Listing all pages isn't absolutely necessary.

If your site is set up with category or department pages which link to all the pages under them then it is not absolutely necessary to include all pages on your site map. Just be sure that all pages can be accessed. If you have links on your main category pages that lead to the pages under them, then the spiders can find them.

Google site map

The site map we referred to above would look and read much like this page. In other words, it would be readable and understood by humans.

But there is another site map available. This other site map is written in xml and isn't intended to be ready by humans. It is called a Google site map. According to Google this makes your website more Google-friendly. It is free and they have downloads available. You can also find sites that allow you to download a free site map creator, or to use one online. Just do a search for Google sitemaps, and you will find lots of information.

One site map at the very least

At the very least, you should have an HTML site map. This provides a service to those visitors who would use it, and it does help the search engines, which in turn is of benefit to your website.

Get access to a video on Google site maps and information on both types of site map. 

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