How To Create A Sitemap
Posted by Derek Robson on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Under: Websites, domains, SEO
A sitemap of a website or a blog is similar to the table of contents of a book. A sitemap is very important because it guides web surfers to the particular part of the website that they are interest in.
Like an index or a menu, they can save time wasted following various links and get right to the correct section they are looking for.
Sitemaps are also very important to search engines. Their robots and spiders scan the website pages every few days, looking for changes and new content. Rather than scan all the pages, they can quickly pick up any recent additions through the sitemap. The search engines also rely on a sitemap to determine the topic, type of font, keywords and key-phrases. This all assists with search results and page ranking.
Now don't panic! It is not difficult to create a sitemap and these days, all sorts of software and aids are available to make things easier.
Here is a very simple way of creating a basic sitemap for your website or blog. All need is Windows Notepad, a program editor and a little patience. Here’s how you do it:
Create the listing on a notepad. You can do this in Word or similar, but as so many website and blog editors are not compatible with Word format, I suggest using Notepad. In fact, while we are on the subject, let me give you a tip. Whenever you are adding content to your site or blog, copy your work (usually done in Word) and paste it into Notepad. Sort out any irregular spacing and then copy that into your website editor. This clears all formats that might create problems. Now all you need to do is insert links and change font size and all should be well.
Okay, back to the sitemap. Make a list of all the main page links, as shown in the menu or site navigation. Always put the index (your homepage) at the top. This is like naming chapters of a book. Leave spaces under each main page, so you can add more links. Once you have listed all main pages, add secondary pages. These are things like Contact Us and About Us. Once you have listed all the pages from your site navigation, run through each page and see if there are links to "hidden pages" or locked pages. List these under the relevant main page. Remember, all this is, is a map of all your website pages. Make a draft first and then check that you haven't left anything out.
Now create a new page on your website and name it Sitemap. You can use a hidden page, so that the robots and spiders can find it and visitors can't, or you can add it to your navigation menu, so that everybody can see it. Remember to add the description, keywords and meta-tags for this new and important page.
Nobody will be able to view your sitemap links if you don’t link the page correctly, so check that it all works.
Now it is also important to validate that every one of the links you created on the sitemap page actually work. Each and every page listed on your sitemap must be linked correctly from this new page you have just created. If you are not sure what the links are, open your website in your browser and click a link. The address or URL will show in the browser address bar and you can copy the link and paste it into your website editor. Remember to "clean" it in Notepad first.
Once finished in your website editor, remember to save and publish the changes. Next, open your website in your browser and check each link again while "live".
The steps provided above are a basic way of creating a sitemap manually and ideal for those who have a little experience.
If you are a complete newbie and this sounds scary, there is software available for creating a sitemap. Check that your website host doesn't already offer this facility. Avoid using free, online sitemap creators, as they are limited in their ability and very often attach advertising or adware and spyware to your site.
Of course doing it manually, yourself, allows you to add your personal touch. You can arrange pages and links the way you want and you get to select the descriptions, headings and structure of the sitemap. You can emphasize the main pages, compared to less significant pages. This becomes even more important, if you are selling products, or offering services online.
A sitemap is absolutely vital to a website. Millions of people search the web for something. If your website offers what that particular person is looking for and it is well structured, the search engines will index your site and it will rank higher in search results. This results in additional traffic and can result in new customers. Once on your website, those people could end up reading your pages and buying something.
A sitemap, whether generated automatically by a program, or done manually yourself, is virtually compulsory these days. Many times a search engine will ignore a site without a neat, structured sitemap. So do it today!
Remember to submit your sitemap to the search engines. Google insists on this and you can do it through the control panel of their Webmaster Tools.
Another tip is to submit each and every page to the search engines and directories. So many people think that submitting only the home page is enough. With the competition from other websites, it is never enough!
Like most things online, Sitemaps are simple if done right and can cause a headache if not. Did you know that to get the best from Google you actually need two types of sitemaps?
Your site should have an XML sitemap, so you can submit it to your Google Webmaster account and an HTML sitemap that you can link to from your home page and get your whole site indexed easily. We have discussed this above.
Most people just put their site up and hope it works out, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Now what if installing a couple of plug-ins could almost guarantee Google coming to your site in minutes? Google wants to spider your site and they want to index all the pages, all you have to do is give them what they want.
If you feel this is too difficult or too involved and you want peace of mind, then there is a very good and reasonably priced piece of software that will automate the task for you, especially, but not only if you use WordPress. See more by clicking here, or copy this link into your web browser: http://goo.gl/UG9Sa
Derek Robson has been a successful Internet marketer since 2003. He has a vision of empowering others, particularly fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For informative articles on making money, setting up a simple business that actually makes money, Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, such as gardening and fitness, visit Derek and Sally at their blog, part of http://dersalsites.com/
Like an index or a menu, they can save time wasted following various links and get right to the correct section they are looking for.
Sitemaps are also very important to search engines. Their robots and spiders scan the website pages every few days, looking for changes and new content. Rather than scan all the pages, they can quickly pick up any recent additions through the sitemap. The search engines also rely on a sitemap to determine the topic, type of font, keywords and key-phrases. This all assists with search results and page ranking.
Now don't panic! It is not difficult to create a sitemap and these days, all sorts of software and aids are available to make things easier.
Here is a very simple way of creating a basic sitemap for your website or blog. All need is Windows Notepad, a program editor and a little patience. Here’s how you do it:
Create the listing on a notepad. You can do this in Word or similar, but as so many website and blog editors are not compatible with Word format, I suggest using Notepad. In fact, while we are on the subject, let me give you a tip. Whenever you are adding content to your site or blog, copy your work (usually done in Word) and paste it into Notepad. Sort out any irregular spacing and then copy that into your website editor. This clears all formats that might create problems. Now all you need to do is insert links and change font size and all should be well.
Okay, back to the sitemap. Make a list of all the main page links, as shown in the menu or site navigation. Always put the index (your homepage) at the top. This is like naming chapters of a book. Leave spaces under each main page, so you can add more links. Once you have listed all main pages, add secondary pages. These are things like Contact Us and About Us. Once you have listed all the pages from your site navigation, run through each page and see if there are links to "hidden pages" or locked pages. List these under the relevant main page. Remember, all this is, is a map of all your website pages. Make a draft first and then check that you haven't left anything out.
Now create a new page on your website and name it Sitemap. You can use a hidden page, so that the robots and spiders can find it and visitors can't, or you can add it to your navigation menu, so that everybody can see it. Remember to add the description, keywords and meta-tags for this new and important page.
Nobody will be able to view your sitemap links if you don’t link the page correctly, so check that it all works.
Now it is also important to validate that every one of the links you created on the sitemap page actually work. Each and every page listed on your sitemap must be linked correctly from this new page you have just created. If you are not sure what the links are, open your website in your browser and click a link. The address or URL will show in the browser address bar and you can copy the link and paste it into your website editor. Remember to "clean" it in Notepad first.
Once finished in your website editor, remember to save and publish the changes. Next, open your website in your browser and check each link again while "live".
The steps provided above are a basic way of creating a sitemap manually and ideal for those who have a little experience.
If you are a complete newbie and this sounds scary, there is software available for creating a sitemap. Check that your website host doesn't already offer this facility. Avoid using free, online sitemap creators, as they are limited in their ability and very often attach advertising or adware and spyware to your site.
Of course doing it manually, yourself, allows you to add your personal touch. You can arrange pages and links the way you want and you get to select the descriptions, headings and structure of the sitemap. You can emphasize the main pages, compared to less significant pages. This becomes even more important, if you are selling products, or offering services online.
A sitemap is absolutely vital to a website. Millions of people search the web for something. If your website offers what that particular person is looking for and it is well structured, the search engines will index your site and it will rank higher in search results. This results in additional traffic and can result in new customers. Once on your website, those people could end up reading your pages and buying something.
A sitemap, whether generated automatically by a program, or done manually yourself, is virtually compulsory these days. Many times a search engine will ignore a site without a neat, structured sitemap. So do it today!
Remember to submit your sitemap to the search engines. Google insists on this and you can do it through the control panel of their Webmaster Tools.
Another tip is to submit each and every page to the search engines and directories. So many people think that submitting only the home page is enough. With the competition from other websites, it is never enough!
Like most things online, Sitemaps are simple if done right and can cause a headache if not. Did you know that to get the best from Google you actually need two types of sitemaps?
Your site should have an XML sitemap, so you can submit it to your Google Webmaster account and an HTML sitemap that you can link to from your home page and get your whole site indexed easily. We have discussed this above.
Most people just put their site up and hope it works out, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Now what if installing a couple of plug-ins could almost guarantee Google coming to your site in minutes? Google wants to spider your site and they want to index all the pages, all you have to do is give them what they want.
If you feel this is too difficult or too involved and you want peace of mind, then there is a very good and reasonably priced piece of software that will automate the task for you, especially, but not only if you use WordPress. See more by clicking here, or copy this link into your web browser: http://goo.gl/UG9Sa
Derek Robson has been a successful Internet marketer since 2003. He has a vision of empowering others, particularly fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For informative articles on making money, setting up a simple business that actually makes money, Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, such as gardening and fitness, visit Derek and Sally at their blog, part of http://dersalsites.com/
Tags: seo sitemap links
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