What is an HTML Sitemap?
“If Keyhole Promotion has created your site, you’ve had an HTML sitemap built for you already.”
And why do I need one?
There are two forms of website sitemaps: XML Sitemaps & HTML Sitemaps. Each has a different purpose, but both essentially organize the pages of a website into an outline, with links to each page.
(We cover XML Sitemaps here: What is an XML Sitemap?)
An HTML Sitemap is an actual page on a website that can be visited by both humans and Search Engine bots. On this page is published an organized, usually bulleted list of all of the pages of the site, with links to each page. It’s basically a clickable table of contents.
It’s an old tool, but still relevant. Here’s why…
Human Visitors
Navigating websites, and finding the pages and content you want can be a hassle, especially for large or complex sites. Having a single page where visitors can see the website outline and find what they’re looking for is a helpful addition to your site. It’s also free, so why not?
Search Engine Bots
Search Engines like Google build their massive index of websites by ‘crawling’ each site, following links, and indexing the content on each page. By providing a single page of links to all corners of the site, you’ll simply make that process quicker and easier for the Search Engines.
Generally, XML Sitemaps are submitted to the Search Engines also, but the HTML sitemap is still complimentary. It certainly won’t hurt.
Admittedly, the HTML Sitemap is not as crucial for SEO as in once was, but for something that takes little time or effort, we still recommend.
If Keyhole Promotion has created your site, you’ve had an HTML sitemap built for you already – it’s part of what we do in our design process.
