Sitemaps are an essential component of every website. They aren’t as glamorous as your main page, but they are useful for guiding Google bots to your website’s content, relevancy, and other factors. In our experience as Melbourne SEO services experts, Indexing your website will help you rank higher in Google’s search results. Google’s bots, as well as your chances of ranking first, will be lost if you don’t have a sitemap.
What are Sitemaps and How Do I Use Them?
A sitemap is a sort of file that contains information about your website’s pages. It aids Google bots in crawling your page more quickly and efficiently. Sitemaps inform Google which pages are most important to you.
Sitemaps are divided into two categories:
- XML: XML sitemaps are used by Google bots to navigate your website.
- HTML sitemaps assist users in navigating the website.
Different Types of Sitemaps
While the two sitemap formats perform comparable duties, there are some significant distinctions between them. Let’s have a look at it.
XML Sitemaps
XML sitemaps are files that list all of your web pages so that Google can crawl and index them. This file format is purely for Google and has no impact on the user experience. If any of your website’s pages aren’t connected, sitemaps can help you locate them and address the problem more quickly.
XML sitemaps can indicate when a file or webpage is updated. Google like it when you update and renew your material, so having this information on hand is beneficial. You can view previous material and decide whether or not to remove it from the sitemap or refresh it.
The number of URLs in a single XML sitemap is restricted to 50,000. If your website is huge, you may need several XML files to cover it. However, to assist speed up the crawling process, limit the number of URLs under 1,000.
Sitemaps in HTML
Sitemaps in HTML are comparable to sitemaps in XML. HTML sitemaps, on the other hand, are designed to be explored by web users. Although Google scans XML files faster than HTML files, an HTML sitemap demonstrates that you have addressed the user’s experience in the development of your website, which can help your website rank higher on Google.
What are the Benefits of Sitemaps?
Sitemaps assist Google in crawling all of the pages on your website. Internal links on your website, the logical structure of your website, and how each link relates to each webpage are all examples. Google favors sites with sitemaps and gives them a ranking boost.
Sitemaps are important when:
- Your website’s internal linking isn’t very good: Sitemaps assist you in getting started with internal linking. Instead of utilising the links you don’t have, Google scans your website using the sitemap as a guide.
- Your website is large and has a large number of pages: The longer it takes Google to crawl and index a website, the more time it takes. This is substantially accelerated by using a sitemap.
- Your website is brand new or doesn’t have any external links: It may be more difficult to locate your website. A sitemap tells Google what’s on your site instead of depending on external connections to drive traffic.
First and foremost, sitemaps are required for Google to index your website. They will, however, help both you and your users. You may utilize your sitemap to better comprehend your website’s content and assist your users in navigating it.