Understand Sitemaps To Achieve SEO Success

As marketing on online platforms is commonplace nowadays, websites are becoming indispensable. A website is the first port of call for people looking for more information about your product or services via search engines. Therefore, your website must rank highly. A sitemap is one technique that will help search engine bots find your website.

What is Sitemap?

A sitemap is a website map that gives an overview of its pages. In other words, it is a website’s table of contents page. The sitemap was initially intended to organise a website’s pages so that users could get an overview of the website and navigate it more conveniently. However, a sitemap now helps with SEO and increases the chances of your website ranking!

How many types of sitemaps are there?

Sitemaps can be divided into two main types:

HTML Sitemap

An HTML sitemap shows the titles of each page of a website. It is intended primarily for users to see each clickable page of a website so they can navigate the site more easily.

XML Sitemap

Just like an HTML sitemap, an XML sitemap shows the pages on a website. However, an XML sitemap only displays the URL of each page because it’s intended to help search engine bots read your website, not general users. An XML sitemap allows Google’s bots to explore and collect information about your website, such as the type of content it offers, how many pages it has, and when it was last updated. This type of sitemap can have a significant impact on SEO.

Sample XML Sitemap

What are the benefits of Sitemaps

• Allows users to have an overview of the website and access information quickly and conveniently.
• Helps website developers understand the entire structure of the website, which makes it easier to develop.
• Makes it easier for search engine bots to explore website data. This increases the chances of your website ranking highly and quickly.

What kind of website should have a Sitemap?

• Large websites. Suppose a website has many different content sections and no sitemap. In that case, Google’s bots may not be able to collect data on some pages, especially if they are newly created or recently updated.
• A newly created website or one with few external links. An external link is a link that the website provides to allow readers to explore and see more information from other websites. Search engine bots collect information about the number of external links websites have, which can affect a website’s ranking. If your website is new or doesn’t have a lot of external links, you should create a sitemap to make it easier for bots to discover and read your site.

By creating a sitemap, you make your website more convenient for visitors, which will encourage them to return to your website. A sitemap also helps your website to rank on the search engine results pages, thereby increasing the chances of driving traffic to your site. 

If you’re looking for help with sitemaps or any aspect of digital marketing, contact the experts at Primal. Our friendly and professional team can help make your website easy to discover!