What is the importance of Sitemap in SEO

Importance of Sitemaps

There are several SEO tips and tricks that facilitate in optimizing a website however one in every of those, the importance of that is typically underestimated is sitemaps. Sitemaps, because the name implies, square measure simply a map of your website - i.e. on one single page you show the structure of your website, its sections, the links between them, etc. Sitemaps create navigating your site easier Associate in Nursing  having an updated sitemap on your site is sweet each for your users and for search engines. Sitemaps square measure a vital manner of communication with search engines. Whereas in robots.txt you tell search engines that components of your website to exclude from compartmentalisation, in your website map you tell search engines wherever you need them to travel.

Sitemaps don't seem to be a novelty. they need invariably been a part of best internet style practices however with the adoption of sitemaps by search engines, currently they become even additional necessary. However, it's necessary to form a clarification that if you're inquisitive about sitemaps primarily from a SEO purpose of read, you cannot maintain with the standard sitemap solely (though presently Yahoo! and MSN still keep to the quality HTML format). as an example, Google Sitemaps uses a special (XML) format that's completely different from the standard HTML sitemap for human guests.

One would possibly raise why 2 sitemaps square measure necessary. the solution is clear - one is for humans, alternative is for spiders (for currently primarily Googlebot however it's affordable to expect that other crawlers can be a part of the club shortly). In this relation it's necessary to clarify that having 2 sitemaps isn't considered duplicate content. In 'Introduction to Sitemaps', Google expressly states that employing a websitemap can ne'er result in penalty for your site.

Why Use a Sitemap
Using sitemaps has several advantages, not solely easier navigation and higher visibility by search engines. Sitemaps supply the chance to tell search engines straightaway concerning any changes on your website. Of course, you cannot expect that search engines can rush promptly to index your modified pages however actually the changes are indexed quicker, compared to after you haven't got a sitemap.

Also, after you have a sitemap and submit it to the search engines, you bank less on external links that may bring search engines to your website. Sitemaps will even facilitate with mussy internal links - as an example if you by chance have broken internal links or parentless pages that can't be reached in alternative manner (though there's little question that it's far better to repair your errors than suppose a sitemap).

If your website is new, or if you've got a major range of recent (or recently updated pages), then employing a sitemap may be very important to your success. Though you'll still go while not a sitemap, it's seemingly that shortly websitemaps can become the quality manner of submitting a site to look engines. Although it's bound that spiders can still index the online and sitemaps won't create the quality creep procedures obsolete, it's logical to mention that the importance of sitemaps can still increase.

Sitemaps conjointly facilitate in classifying your website content, although search engines square measure by no means that duty-bound to classify a page as happiness to a selected class or as matching a selected keyword solely as a result of you've got told them thus.
Having in mind that the sitemap programs of major search engines (and particularly Google) square measure still in beta, employing a sitemap may not generate large blessings promptly however as search engines improve their sitemap compartmentalisation algorithms, it's expected that additional and additional sites are indexed quick via sitemaps.
Generating and Submitting the Sitemap

The steps you would like to perform so as to possess a websitemap for your site square measure straightforward. First, you would like to come up with it, then you transfer it to your website, and eventually you advise Google concerning it.

Depending on your technical skills, there square measure 2 ways that to come up with a sitemap - to transfer and install a sitemap generator or to use a web sitemap generation tool. The primary is harder however you've got additional management over the output. You’ll transfer the Google sitemap generator from here. Once you transfer the package, follow the installation and configuration directions in it. This generator may be a Python script, thus your internet server should have Python two.2 or later put in, so as to run it.

The second thanks to generate a sitemap is simpler. There square measure several free on-line tools which will do the duty for you. As an example, have a glance at this assortment of Third-party Sitemap tools. though Google says expressly that it's neither tested, nor verified them, this list are helpful as a result of it includes links to on-line generators, downloadable sitemap generators, sitemap plugins for in style content-management systems, etc., thus you'll be able to notice specifically what you would like.

After you've got created the sitemap, you would like to transfer it to your website (if it's not already there) and advise Google concerning its existence. Notifying Google includes adding the location to your Google Sitemaps account, thus if you are doing not have Associate in Nursing account with Google, it's time to open one. Another detail that's helpful to understand before is that so as to feature the sitemap to your account, you would like to verify that you simply square measure the legitimate owner of the location.

Currently Yahoo! and MSN don't support sitemaps, or a minimum of not within the XML format, employed by Google. Yahoo! permits webmasters to submit “a document with a listing of URLs” (which will truly be a minimal version of a website map), whereas MSN doesn't supply even that however there square measure rumors that it's compartmentalisation sitemaps after they square measure on the market onsite. presumably this example can amendment within the close to future and each Yahoo! and MSN can catch with Google as a result of user-submitted website maps square measure simply a powerful SEO tool.