What is a Site Map?
Site maps are a key aspect of search engine optimization and extremely important to web site design.
Site Maps and SEO
Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is the process increasing web site traffic and web page ranking on search engines. Ultimately, SEO is used as a marketing tool and should be one of the key aspects of an internet marketing plan.
A site map is the map that shows website visitors the pages that are available for them to visit. Site maps are also used by search engine crawlers and spiders as they index a website in determining page ranking. Thus, a site map is an extremely important tool and should be integrated into web page design. Also, site maps are extremely helpful for designers as a guide to putting together an entire site. Every time a website is updated or pages are added, the site map should be updated to reflect the changes or additions, because this information is integral to improving page rank as spiders and crawlers revisit the site and reevaluate the website information.
Use of Site Maps
Initially, when starting on a web site design project, a site map may simply be a piece of paper that shows the breakdown of each web page and where it falls structurally on the site. The architecture of a website is extremely important, because easy to understand and navigate sites are more attractive to visitors and will result in visitors navigating their way toward purchases to asking for more information.
The site map can also be a guide for developing the web site menu, which should be located at the top of the web page or on the left or right side of the page. Web site designs that place the menu in an awkward place like the center of the page or at the bottom should be avoided. A excellent guide for page design and placement of items like text, menus and affiliate advertising is the Google Heat Map.
As the web site development project progresses, the site map should be integrated into the entire site. Once the site is finished, then it is possible to use a tool like Google Site Map, which not only indexes your pages, but also has a spell checker and more.
Site Maps and Page Ranking
One important part of search engine optimization is page ranking. Page ranking is one of the keys to increased web traffic, since in generally most web surfers will only visit the top five to ten websites listed on the first page of a web search. As a result, search engines send out spiders and crawlers that constantly evaluate new and existing websites to determine the content on the site and how relevant it is to keyword search terms.
One of the ways spiders and crawlers evaluate the websites is by looking at the site map. If a site map does not exist, then the crawler or spider will simply look at the home page and not even evaluate the other pages on the website. Not having a site map is a mistake, because it limits your potential page ranking by search engines only on your home page.
