Sitemaps serve as an aid to users and search engines to navigate a website’s detailed structure. They are well noted to have traditionally relied on physical maps. Just like a table of contents guides readers through a book, a website’s sitemap directs users and search engines through every important page with clarity and purpose.
In this guide, we will explain a sitemap, its different types, and how it can affect your website’s SEO, usability, visibility, and navigation.
What is a Sitemap?
Simply put, a sitemap is a file, primarily in XML format, that highlights the most important pages of a website. It aids websites and their content to be indexed by search engines like Google by serving as the site’s structure guideline.
However, HTML sitemaps and other formats prove that sitemaps serve a purpose beyond just search engine aids—they also help users navigate better and locate significant sections of large or content-dense websites.
In summary, there are 2 main functions sitemaps fulfill:
- Help indexing and crawling a website.
- Usability improvement on larger-scale websites.
Kinds of Sitemaps
Each sitemap serves a purpose based on the specifics of one’s site and vision. Here’s a glimpse of some fundamental categories of sitemaps.
XML Sitemap
This is one of the more common sitemaps, mainly focusing on search engines’ features. It contains several URLs along with metadata—for example, the last modification date for each page and frequency of updates//revisions—which helps search engines prioritize crawling order.
Image Sitemap
When a site relies on arts and meta design, an image sitemap facilitates efficient discoverability and indexing, thus Image Sitemap is essential. Particularly for e-commerce sites, photography portfolios, and media-rich webpages, this serves a vital function.
Video Sitemap
This particular Video Sitemap is the most straightforward way for search engines to lay out and section video content stored on your website. In most cases, structured data, for example,e schema mark-up, was and still is king. However, video sitemaps remain useful for sophisticated and larger-scale video sites.
News Sitemap
For tech journalists and bloggers generating news sitemaps, it is worth noting that designers aimed to provide Google News features in sitemaps while focusing on timeliness and traditional windows. Like the title suggests, they({sitemaps}) needed to contain urgent time-bound material, which in this case is ordered to be less than 48 hours old.
HTML Sitemap
Different from XML sitemaps, HTML sitemaps are created with users in mind. They are single webpages containing hyperlinks to different parts of the website. Such sitemaps also assist with user navigation and internal linking.
Apart from these two, XML and HTML sitemaps are the most popular sitemaps across websites.
XML Vs. HTML Sitemaps: What Are The Differences?
- XML Sitemaps: These are aimed at search engines. These are not seen by users, but are necessary for indexing purposes.
- HTML Sitemaps: Found on the website, and meant to help users navigate the site.
For SEO purposes, the sitemaps people are mostly referring to are XML because those are center-aligned for search engine crawlers.
When Would You Need A Sitemap?
Sitemaps mark specific pages on a website, which is helpful to the user when accessing information contained in a page. Google is usually able to discover pages that follow natural internal links. However, there are circumstances where a sitemap is essential.
Use a sitemap if:
- Your website has many pages (generally over 500).
- You are still developing a new website with no external backlinks pointing to it.
- Your site includes a lot of multimedia content, such as images, videos, and even news articles that you want quickly indexed.
You might not need one if:
- Your business is relatively small with fewer than 500 pages.
- Your business is well structured with good internal links.
- If you do not rely heavily on media-rich content.
That aside, the majority of SEO experts share a consensus: creating a sitemap is beneficial whether your website is of small or large scale.
Key Features of Sitemaps
Advantages of a sitemap include search engine optimization, sitemaps help with navigation, and other facets of usability, even if your website doesn’t require a sitemap for proper functioning.
Better Crawling and Indexing
A sitemap bolsters the possibility of better crawling and indexing of search engines by creating internal site navigation directories as well as providing object importance to bots. Big websites benefit tremendously because some pages get lost in internal linking and are buried quite deep.
Greater Efficiency in The Discovery Of New Content
This helps reduce the amount of time taken for indexing, especially by notifying relevant search engines or notifying them through logical methods after content updates or publications. This includes blogs, news sites, and even e-commerce stores where there is regular Article publishing or product updates.
Identification of Orphan Pages
Such pages do not have links anywhere else on the website, hence their orphan status. Tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can scour your sitemap or templates and flag these pages, enabling better capture for better site structure and improved SEO health.
How to Locate a Sitemap on a Website
Wondering if your website already has a sitemap? Attempt these techniques to determine:
Try Default Sitemap URLs
Sitemaps are located in the most obvious locations. Try:
Verify the Robots.txt File
Visit https://www.soft-arena.com/robots.txt. If a sitemap exists, you should see a line starting with Sitemap: that will tell you where it is.
Use Google Search Console
If your site is registered on Google Search Console, you may search for submitted sitemaps under the section “Sitemaps.”.
Make Your Developer Do It
If this fails, ask your web developer to do it. Possibly no sitemap has been generated or posted.
Best Practices for Sitemaps
To optimize the utility of your sitemap, adopt the techniques recommended by experts as mentioned below:
Produce a Sitemap
Begin by creating a sitemap through one of the following methods:
- CMS Plugins: With WordPress, there are plugins like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO that will automatically make and update your sitemap whenever you post new content.
- Web-Based Tools: For static and custom-built websites, use tools like xml-sitemaps.com to create a sitemap manually.
- Custom Scripts: Work with a developer to create a script that will enable you to automatically generate and update your sitemap.
Use Compact, Segmented Sitemaps
For larger websites, you would have to break the sitemap down into smaller sections, and each section might have its sitemap for blog posts, products, and categories. Segmentation enables faster and more effective crawling by the search engines. WordPress plugins, such as Yoast, enable you to automate this.
Google Submission of Sitemap
Once you finish making your sitemap:
- Verify your access to Google Search Console.
- Proceed to the “Sitemaps” page.
- Provide the URL (e.g., https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml).
Watch for Mistakes
Use Google Search Console Coverage Report to identify and resolve issues such as:
- Non-indexable or broken pages.
- Crawl errors.
- Pages inaccessible to robots.txt or meta tags.
- Have a clean and updated sitemap to get the optimum results.
Global SEO and Sitemaps
The tags tell search engines which page version to send to a particular language and geographical region, thus avoiding duplicate content problems and enhancing user experience.
Learn more about Google’s multilingual and multi-regional site best practices regarding international targeting.
Sitemap FAQs
Some of the questions that webmasters have about sitemaps are:
Q: What should I include in my sitemap?
A: Put all relevant content you need indexed:
- Homepage
- Product and category pages
- Academic articles
- Contact and About pages
- Most important media files (images, videos)
Q: Is there a size limit for a sitemap?
A:Yes:
- 50,000 or fewer URLs per sitemap.
- File size should not exceed 50 MB (uncompressed). For large sites, split the content into multiple sitemaps and provide a sitemap index.
Q: How is an XML sitemap different from an HTML sitemap?
A: HTML sitemaps: For users, enhance navigation.
What common mistakes should be avoided?
- Do not provide dead or dysfunctional URLs.
- Avoid duplicate or non-canonical URLs.
- Ensure pages you want indexed aren’t blocked by robots.txt.
- Use hreflang appropriately for global users.
Having Trouble with Your Sitemap or SEO Plan? Struggling with where to begin with your sitemap? Too busy to do your SEO? You’re not the only one. Soft Arena is skilled at getting websites seen and ranked higher with smart, strategic SEO solutions. Technical audits to sitemap optimization guidance, to an SEO makeover—we do it all. Get a free SEO review today and see how your site’s performing and how you can get more organic traffic.
