Sitemaps 101
September 7, 2007
A sitemap can be a valuable addition to your website or blog, but there can sometimes be confusion between XML sitemaps and traditional sitemaps. A traditional sitemap is an actual page on your site that links to all of the other pages (or at least the major ones) on your website. The primary purpose of this type of sitemap is to assist visitors when they are trying to find something specific. An XML sitemap is not a page that a human visitor would use, instead it is made to help search engines find and index all of your pages.
Why is an XML Sitemap Important?
Most search engines (including Google and Yahoo!) now use XML sitemaps (also called Google sitemaps) to help them find and index pages. The XML sitemap includes a link to each page on the site so that the search engine can quickly find, crawl, and index each page.
By using an XML sitemap your pages can get indexed much faster than they would without one. However, the sitemap has no effect on how well the page ranks in the search engines, it only helps to ensure that it is indexed.
Resources for Creating XML Sitemaps:
XML-Sitemaps.com is one of the easiest and fastest ways (and it’s free) to create an XML sitemap. Enter your URL and it will create the XML file for you. After your sitemap is created you can login to your Google Webmaster Tools account and notify Google of your sitemap so it can be crawled.
Sitemaps Pal is another free online sitemap generator. It works similarly to XML-Sitemaps.com.
Google Sitemap Generator from Audit My PC is another free sitemap generator.
Google Sitemap Generator for WordPress is a great plugin for WP users. It will create an XML sitemap of your WordPress-powered website or blog and it will automatically update itself when new posts and pages are added.
Why is a Traditional Sitemap Important?
Long before XML sitemaps were around, traditional sitemaps were used by most websites (especially larger sites) to help visitors navigate through the site. The rise in popularity of XML sitemaps does not decrease the importance of a traditional sitemap for this purpose.
Additionally, sitemaps are an easy way to improve the internal link structure of your website. Internal links can have some effect on how well pages rank in search engines, so be sure to include a link to all of your most important pages from your sitemap.
Resources for Traditional Sitemaps:
Site Map Pro automatically creates an HTML (or XML) sitemap of your website.
Automatic Sitemap Generator from FreeFind is a similar sitemap tool.
Sitemap Generator Plugin for WordPress from Dagon Design is an easy way for WordPress users to have a visitor-friendly sitemap for their website or blog.
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Comments
4 Responses to “Sitemaps 101”
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Tay,
Thank you for posting the article!
Steven,
Sure thing! It’s another great one (and especially great because this wasn’t a topic I’d covered yet), but of course the quality of your posts are always fantastic. Thank YOU for guest blogging for me once again! :)
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This is a great post, I appreciate the resources I have been looking for a traditional Sitemap generator for awhile. I’ll check some of these out.