Improve your SEO with Site Maps
Every day people take the time to read my posts on building better websites and optimizing website content but I’ve not written about one of the most important aspects of Search Engine Optimization previously, the dreaded site map. To be honest, I haven’t written about it because I assumed everybody knew how important a site map was and simply implemented them without question. Apparently I was wrong.
Let’s start by determining what I mean by a site map and then we can look at how to properly use one. There are two types of site maps common on the Internet today. The first is a hypertext document filled with all the links on your website, organized in a way that is comfortable for people to read. The second is an XML data file designed for search engines and other computers to read.
Both types of site maps are important for SEO (let’s call it organic marketing instead) because it helps search engines and visitors traverse your website more effectively. Visually, having a site map allows visitors to quickly load an index of all the pages on your website and find what they’re looking for while it also allows search engines to link to various pages and ensures your whole website is indexed. Mechanically, the XML variety also provides major search engines with the ability to know when pages are updated on a website.
In essence, a site map is a document that acts as a table of contents for your website and both people and machines use it the same way, to rapidly find areas of your website which would otherwise be difficult to locate.
For those of us who have had our websites designed in WordPress, the task of implimenting a site map is pretty straight forward. Simply download and install a plugin such as the Google XML Sitemaps before signing up for a Google Web Master Tools account. Once you’re signed up, you can specify the URL of your XML file and you’re all done.
This is true…and with any good blog or CMS, publishing to the web is great…but if you can also write the information dynamically to your sitemap.xml, then you are golden.
I think another great way of looking at a sitemap is how ones blog…”PINGS” the blogosphere. You do an update here, they get it there.
Same thing with Sitemap.XML. FYI, there are free sitemap generators online to help make this job easy. Just search google for “free google sitemap generators”.
Word Press makes it pretty straight forward. I find it useful to check out the site map of a site I’m visiting for the first time. Gives me a better idea about their misson.
Gennaro’s last blog post..Things To Do In NYC (For Free)
I think i’ve been banging on about this all week! It unbelievable how much difference a sitemap can make!
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It takes just two plugins for wordpress to create both sitemaps: for google and for people. That’s what I love about wp =)
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Your blog is very informative and very helpful. i think Internal links are very important. When you have many pages, more than 100 for example, make different categorized SEO site maps. When you have too many links on one page, Search Engines can assume that you are a link farm and lower your website ranking for this reason.
The Google Sitemaps plugin is a must have. If you’re using Wordpress you should be using the plugin too.
Mike Collins’s last blog post..What Scrooge McDuck Taught Me About Internet Marketing
There is also Dagon Design sitemap plugin for Wordpress that one is not an XML but instead is one for your visitors for navigation to put on your site.
JR
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Parabens pelo seu site, colega! Nao gosto muito de fazer comentarios, mas o seu site esta muito bom mesmo! Continue com esse bom trabalho!