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Website Sitemap 101: What Is It and Why Do You Need One?.

So, you started a website for your business, and now you're wondering what a sitemap is and why you need…

Website Sitemap 101: What Is It and Why Do You Need One?

22nd April 2022

Website Site-Mapping

So, you started a website for your business, and now you’re wondering what a sitemap is and why you need it?

First of all, sitemaps are not just for search engines, although that’s where most people first hear about them. A well-structured, easy-to-use sitemap will help visitors and search engines navigate your site’s content, improving your online presence and optimization.

In this article, you’ll find out what a sitemap is and why you need it for your business.

 

What Is a Website Sitemap?

Web sitemaps are quick ways web spiders act on your site to make search engine decisions. The maps inform them about pages available for crawling and, therefore, visibility. 

Fundamentally, a sitemap outlines your site’s URLs, serving as an XML file. It lists them out based on the changes and updates frequencies of the URL relative to other URLs. Likewise, it provides additional metadata about each URL. That way, search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Most websites use a sitemap template that is an essential part of the user experience and can be used for SEO. Fundamentally, there are four types of sitemaps: HTML, XML, RSS, and text. The type you use depends on your site, content, and template.

 

Why Do You Need a Website Sitemap?

Your business website has a lot of pages, and it can be difficult for customers to find what they need. A detailed website sitemap is a solution to ensure your visitors see everything you have to offer.

Here are seven strong reasons your business needs a sitemap.

 

1. Helps Search Engines Crawl Your Site More Efficiently

Today’s search engines use complex algorithms to crawl and index a website. Because of this, there are many things you can do to help search engines crawl your site more efficiently, including implementing Sitemaps. Sitemaps are files that tell site crawlers about the pages on your site. When you implement a sitemap, crawlers pick it up as part of your website maintenance and use the structure to inform your visibility.

 

2. Ensures All Pages on Your Website Can Be Found

Sitemaps have one goal: to ensure it’s easy for visitors to find the pages they’re looking for. Incorporating a sitemap into a website takes work, but all that work is worth it when a business can enjoy increased traffic from search engines and an increase in on-site conversion requests.

Sitemaps also make it much easier for a business to maintain its web presence as sites change names, addresses, and other information that constitutes its location on the world wide web.

 

3. Improves Website Navigation

A well-designed and functioning sitemap can significantly improve website navigation. This allows users to quickly find the information they’re looking for by directing them to the pages where that relevant content can be found. How a sitemap improves website navigation overlaps with the general purpose of a sitemap—to provide users with a broad snapshot of your website content.

 

4. Creating a Sitemap Is a Cheaper Way to Get Indexed For SEO

Your website is one of the most critical assets of your business. If it isn’t visible to the world, you might bear low sales. Unfortunately, many people think that to get noticed, a site should be stuffed with keywords, pictures, and other content. This is why sitemaps are so important.

The sitemap will be an index of your website that keeps your content well-arranged and indexed. It explains your web structure. You can create a sitemap manually or via any automatic software. Manually creating a sitemap is much cheaper as you’re not going to pay for any online programs. If you want to have a starting point in building an effective sitemap, you can also consider using a sitemap template.

 

5. Improves Website Loading Speed

It’s always good to do a quick check-up on your website, ensuring you can continually optimize its performance. A sitemap is a way to improve your website’s speed because it allows you to look at your website’s structure and identify any bottlenecks that you might not have known about. A sitemap will also tell you if there’s anything you need to pay more attention to specifically, such as large images or videos which will slow down the entire loading process of your website.

 

Conclusion

A sitemap is a must-have for any webmaster, as it provides a bird’s-eye view of the whole website. It helps visitors navigate the vast amount of information available on your site and divides it into categories. Though sitemaps differ based on their complexity, they’re all alike in one thing—they simplify navigation by giving a structure to the website.

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