Are HTML sitemaps still in use today?
-
I'm trying to help a client understand the importance of having a well-organized HTML site map as a method of helping usability. As part of this process, I spent some time searching for good examples of well-organized HTML site maps, and found that many sites don't offer one (including SEOmoz). I'm wondering if webmasters and/or SEOers think they aren't valuable any longer?
-
It's always interesting to see how sitemap.html performs in terms of pageviews. According to Analytics at least, many users find them useful -- and that's enough for me to usually want to recommend including one.
Try it, test it, and if users find it valuable then keep it. Like it or not, I think it's true to say that there's still a small segment of web users who use sitemaps as on of their main methods of navigation so I think on that basis, there's an argument to include them.
-
I still use "static" sitemaps with my clients. These can be especially welcomed by users if you have a large site with many categories/sub-categories. Of course from a usability standpoint, your site navigation should pose no problem to your customers finding what they are looking for
-
Thanks for your reply, Steve. I'd be interested in hearing from others to see if they have similar thoughts.
-
It doesn't hurt to have them, but I don't think there is any real benefit to them anymore for the search engines. They should be able to find all of your pages by following the regular links on your site. That being said, I still have them on my sites.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How important is anchor text in your sitemap?
I've read in a few recent articles that using keyword anchor text in your HTML sitemap is a good idea i.e. important. How important do you think it is? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Example 1: Widgets: View All Colors: Red | Blue | Green | Yellow | Orange | Purple Types: Oversized | Large | Small | Miniature Example 2: Widgets: View All Widgets Colors: Red Widgets | Blue Widgets | Green Widgets | Yellow Widgets | Orange Widgets | Purple Widgets Types: Oversized Widgets | Large Widgets | Small Widgets | Miniature Widgets
Web Design | | Choice0 -
Can the design still be considered adaptive if the URL is different?
I was under the impression our site had a mobile dedicated design, but my developers are telling me we have an adaptive design. The mobile site is set up different and has different content and the url is as follows: www.site.com/MobileView/MobileHome.aspx Can it still be considered adaptive if the URL is not the exact same? Hopefully this make sense and I appreciate anyone's input!
Web Design | | AliMac260 -
Moving servers which means moving ip address but using the same URL. Would it harm the website's SEO?
Hello everyone, The server (in-house) which we use to host our website is a bit old. We are using CDN77 for our static content. What if I move all our website to the CDN service? meaning I use their storage capability and just have our url point to the IP address they provide. Would that hurt our rankings?
Web Design | | Edgar-Cerecerez0 -
Does Using Magento With Multi Sites Affect SEO
We have a client who has 3 separate websites targeting the US, Australia, and the UK. Each of them has relevant ccTLD's such as: .com .com.au and .co.uk. Our client wants to use the Magento multi-site function so it combines all the stores (which are the exact same products) and merge it into one through Magento. These sites are all hosted in the US and had nothing to do with me haha! I understand Rand has mentioned on a video it would be best having the websites with ccTLD's hosted in that country (if budget permits), however in this case the budget doesn't permit us to go down that road. Has anyone any advice on this matter, has anyone did this before and had a lot of success with the SEO? At present there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about it and opinions are varied and sometimes divided. Any help would be very much appreciated guys Thanks, Matt
Web Design | | HigherthanSEO0 -
HTML vs WordPress
Which website gets better SEO results? I was told that HTML is crawled better than WordPress. Which is a more expensive website to design? What are the pros and cons of each?
Web Design | | CapitolShine0 -
Alternatives to Wordpress for updating content of a static html site
I have a static html site which I cannot update myself. What solutions/ programs would you recommend for gaining the ability to update it myself? I'm reluctant to switch to WordPress because the sites that use any CMS that are hosted by my web hosting company get routinely hacked. Thank you!
Web Design | | translate0 -
Using tables in html
I have a question about tables in html.I heard that you shouldnt use tables in html,you should should use css instead.Ive used free html templates that use tables but those tables are styled through css:td,th,table and other table elements are ale styled through css.I'm curious is this ok for SEO or should tables should be dropped altogether? Thanks for your response
Web Design | | PCTechGuy20120 -
Correct use for Robots.txt
I'm in the process of building a website and am experimenting with some new pages. I don't want search engines to begin crawling the site yet. I would like to add the Robot.txt on my pages that I don't want them to crawl. If I do this, can I remove it later and get them to crawl those pages?
Web Design | | EricVallee340