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| | | | | | An HTML sitemap is for humans and search engines
An html sitemap is one that humans and search engines both can read. Google sitemaps are important too, but they are specific to google and are read only by a search engine.
Your site deserves a sitemap. An html sitemap displays the pages within your website, much like the table of contents in a book. It is best to include all your website pages on a sitemap, but certainly feature at least the main pages if your website is very large.
The purpose of an HTML Sisitemap
First and foremost it is to help your visitors navigate through your website, especially if they are looking for something in particular. Granted navigation should be easy enough so your visitors can find what they need, but visitors come with all levels of skill and you should leave no stone unturned in helping them through your website, and a sitemap is just one more tool.
Secondly, a sitemap helps the search engine spiders find all the pages in your website and index them. A sitemap is a small measure to take in getting your website spidered. Give the search engines all the help they need and you will reap the rewards.
Sitemaps should provide access to all pages
Ideally your website navigation should be easy, and your pages inter-linked in such a way that all pages are easily found. Having an html sitemap is just a little extra insurance to make sure that both visitors and spiders will find all pages.
If your site is huge, you may want to divide your sitemap into several pages so you don't have too many links on one page. Another method used is to list the main important pages on a sitemap. This will work too as long as there is a clear path of links from those main pages to lesser pages of your website. You want to be sure all pages are found.
Whether you choose to have several pages in your html sitemap, or only feature the main more important pages do make sure there are links that lead both visitors or spiders from page to page easily.
Your sitemap link should be very visible.
If you haven't as yet added an html sitemap to your site, look around at other websites. Find some of the more successful websites and look their sitemap over and see how it is laid out.
Success is always a good teacher. Look at a number of websites to get some ideas of how to lay out your sitemap, what you find appealing in terms of appearance. You want your sitemap to be as appealing as the other pages of your website.
There are tutorials online that can help you in your effort to make a sitemap. There are also sitemap creation sites.
Both of these can be helpful in showing you how to set up your own sitemap. But do remember it is always best to create your own unique webpages that fit and look like the rest of your website. The best option is to use the information offered and create a sitemap all your own.
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