Everybody wants to get noticed, and this desire extends to his or her website. The number one, most important feature in getting your site found by search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo is active content that is frequently updated. Another tool is subscribing to a Search Site Submission service that, among other things, helps build inbound links to your URL. However, one of the most overlooked steps in the SEO effort is the inclusion of a Sitemap.
What A Sitemap Is and Is Not
A Sitemap is not an HTML page that gives visitors a bird’s-eye view of the pages included in your overall site. Now, that is not to say that this not a useful feature; it is. However, an actual Sitemap is a particular Extensible Markup Language (XML) file placed within your website’s files. They speak directly to the search engine robots and tell them what to do with the information they garnered from your site.
Now wait, don’t let your eyes glaze over in “techno-confusion.” Creating a Sitemap is really easy with the help of online resources. Several websites generate the page code for you and present it, free-of-charge, ready for your use. Personally, I enjoy using XML Sitemaps Generator.
Remember, at the end of the SEO rainbow; nothing beats a popular website that offers compelling, garden-fresh content. But a making sure that a current Sitemap is part of your web files is vital getting found and staying found.