HTML Sitemaps - A Table of Contents for Your Website

It is a common publishing practice to include a table of content to any book. Actually, a book that lacks a TOC is considered incomplete because readers are likely to get lost somewhere along the way. Furthermore, you will need to occasionally come back to the table of contents for direction on where exactly to find the information you are searching for. This is the same principle on which HTML sitemaps operate; they act as tables of content to your website enabling users to easily find the information fast and hassle-free.

Just like the complex book with many pages, websites with lots of content in many pages can be difficult to navigate. Therefore, every web developer should create a sitemap and make it avaiable. Otherwise, the search engine spiders may not be able to find some pages on your website, which automatically means that your prospects won’t find the information either, a lost opportunity. It is basically a list of web pages that act as a guide to the site. Simply put, it is your site’s map.

How Does It Work?

The best sitemap has to be comprehensive enough, covering the site’s structure, all sections and the links between them. To ensure that it can be accessed, you should link it from somewhere on your homepage. So long as the sitemap complies with the standard XML sitemap format, you can have your content indexed fast by search engine crawlers as well as new visitors. Whenever users get lost in the content or need specific content, they can always refer to the sitemap and find the information. Of course you must have a “search” button on the homepage for the same function, but the sitemap is more reliable and offers much more. Creating a sitemap is easy using a sitemap generator, it makes it effortless.

What Are the Benefits for Using A Sitemap

There are countless advantages a website owner stands to reap from using a sitemap. To begin with, when you create sitemap and submit it, it will speed up your content’s indexing process by the search engines. As earlier mentioned, it also aids in enhancing website navigation because clickable text links to all the pages on a site are provided. The main reason websites exist is to attract as many visitors as possible, which is only possible if the information can be found in the search engines results pages. This brings up the importance of SERPs as a tool for search engines optimization. In as much as sitemaps have no direct influence on the rankings, it simplifies the process through which your content is accessed. Also, internal links in the sitemaps to web pages makes it appear that the website is very relevant, improving your on-page SEO.

There you have it; you should create sitemap, which can naturally be done with the aid of sitemap generator and enjoy the above benefits.