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SEO Buzz – Using a Sitemap for SEO Optimization

With all the focus on tuning content for search engine optimization we often forget in the most basic things when setting up a site that do some great things for your web site. One of those things is using a sitemap.

What is a Sitemap?

WebUpon describes it as “A Sitemap is a graphical representation of the architecture of a website. There are two kinds of site maps. The first is used to assist visitors to a site to navigate the site and the second is done in XML. XML Sitemaps, usually called Sitemap with a capital “S”, are used by Goggle to gather information about the site.”

Sitemap is especially important if your site:

Option #1 – Create it manually or use

Create a Web Page with the Text Link on the front page to “Site Map” and have that page detail out the site is the simplest way to do it but it doesn’t do things like exclude private pages or talk in the language search engine prefer. You can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to generate the sitemap in this format and create a file called “Sitemap.XML”.

The only caveat with this tool is that it is a static version of the sitemap so if your site is updated frequently with content (e.g. blog) you might want to look at option #2 and use a plug-in.

Option #2 – Use a plug-in on your Content Management System (CMS)

Many content management systems have this basic functionality built in or offer plug-ins to help you do this quickly. These usually are very flexible and their management screens allow you to specify which pages for Google or other search engines to index. To show you something like this works, here is a great video using the Wordpress CMS and Google Webmaster Tools:

Resources Mentioned in This Post:

Sitemap Generator Tools for Google and Many CMS Programs

Google Webmaster Guidelines

Google Sitemaps In-Depth

Why a Sitemap is Important

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