SEO Tips: The Value of a Good Sitemap

Without submission to search engines, your site is adrift in a vast web ocean, and using a site map properly can assist search engines in indexing your pages for smooth sailing. While sound design and layout are beneficial to a search engine spidering your site, it never hurts to tell the 'bots where to find things, and a site map is the perfect solution.

In their Webmaster Tools, Google has a sitemap submission section where you can upload an xml site map of your website and it will be downloaded and visited on a regular basis. It is a simple process of inserting either a special meta tag Google supplies into the header of your index page or adding a special html page to your site indicating you are the owner of the website (You wouldn't want the competition adding a site map to your account with links to their site, now would you?).

You can also view their diagnostics for errors in your site or missing links. This is an incredible tool for optimizing your site.

But how do you create a sitemap? There are many programs available to assist you in designing your site maps. The program I prefer is the CoffeeCup Google Site Mapper. You can use coupon code 226STS to receive 20% off the retail price of $29.95.

The program creates the xml version Google prefers for upload, but also outputs an html format you can add to your website. You can then add a link to your site map. I have a link in the footer of my pages.

Sitemaps can look a little odd as directories, and should never be the substitute for a site's navigational system, but as an SEO tool, they are extremely beneficial.