Importance of Site Map

[ksu]

Please, explain why Site Map is important?

[macdesign]

The theory says by having a site map at the second level of your site hierarchy, then all links to your site get indexed by search engine crawlers that limit the depth of searching.

[Andilinks]

If you use JavaScript navagation on your site the site map is a good place to provide non-JS links to everything. This also provides access to non-java browsers and covers other accessibility issues.

And as a bonus if you design it well all your visitors may find it helpful in understanding your site..

Andi

[cbp]

Google in their guidelines say to use a site map - therefore it must be important :-)

CBP

[fathom]

The theory says by having a site map at the second level of your site hierarchy, then all links to your site get indexed by search engine crawlers that limit the depth of searching.

That's a big point - "a page where everything is one click (link) away".

If however, you have a small website where every page can be accessed from the mainpage - a sitemap is redundant.

[Andilinks]

a sitemap is redundant.

Redundant navigation is good design. A good interface will have several ways to do the same thing so each user can pick the most comfortable option.

Far too many web sites (and applications and operating systems) offer a single nav option--"my way or the highway." This discourages users, a fine thing if you don't like users.

Andi

[Kenai Alaska]

Just thought I would throw my two cents in here.
I am in the process of rebuilding one of our sites and thus built the site map first as a tool for me to keep focused on a layout that has taken nearly three weeks to finish. It’s built to be easy to add on to as new information is requested. This site map will be very helpful to the visitors as a quick reference for information and trip planning. The site map is being designed as a tool for design layout and visitors reference. Every page will be listed within the category it represents and followed by a short one sentence page topic. We hope to complete the site by late fall and then add to it each year. The top folder we are currently working in is simply labeled “2004”. Inside will be all the information and photo indexes from our “Alaska flying adventures” for the 2004 year.
I guess what I am trying to say is the site map is a tool where the structure is easily portrayed to the visitors as well as the webmaster as time goes on. Every page of the site is only one click away and on a site that is starting to get rather large, this can be a blessing.
When we upload the site this fall, I will post it in the site design arena for all to review.

[Mel]

Don't forget that a properly constructed sitemap can provide relevant anchor text links to each of your pages in addition to all the other advantages.

[Rajeev Ranjan Singh]

Site map is a Atlas for the vistor as well as the crawler.

[mawells]

I have several sites that use JavaScript navigation and they all have a site map for the search engines to follow. However, it just came to my attention that some of my sites were getting indexed and others were not. So, I took a look at my <noscript> tags and realized that they were using Meta refresh tags in the <noscript> area. (This is put in by the software I use to create the navigation - AllWebMenus). In one case, I removed that meta information and replaced it with the contents of my site map. Yahoo was then able to grab all of the pages of the site, but Google has only added two more pages.

The other site, I replaced that meta refresh tag with a link to the site map page. Time will tell if Google indexes more pages. Currently they only have 4 pages indexed of this site.

The ones that seem to have been indexed okay, I used a transparent GIF, which I needed as a spacer, and linked it to the site map page.

For those who don't already know, you can see how many pages Google has indexed of your site by typing in "Site:mydomain.com" where "mydomain" is your domain. Note there is no space between the colon and your domain name.