What is Sitemap and Why is It so Important?
If you’ve been researching SEO or just modern web design, you’ve probably heard of Sitemap. Sitemap seems a bit complicated, but it’s a key part of making your site rank high with Google. It’s also not as complex as it sounds, according to Antonie Meeker, SEO veteran and CEO of AM Marketing SEO, a digital marketing agency based in Serbia.
So, what is Sitemap, and why is it so important? Let’s see what he has to say.
What is Sitemap?
A sitemap is a file on your website that essentially works as an index. It catalogs each page of your website and keeps track of where all your content is in an organized and well-structured way.
This can help you in a variety of ways. Outside of SEO, it can help you keep your site organized and make future installments easier to implement without straying from your established site structure.
You use Sitemap by adding each new page to the Sitemap file’s index. This can be a little annoying when you first get done building your site. That’s when you create a bunch of pages and content at once and adding it all can take a little time or cause a couple of headaches. However, it’s a lot easier when you add future content. You just add the new page and update your Sitemap. If you stay on top of it and add all new content to Sitemap as you implement it, it’s an easy process that will become second nature very quickly.
How Does Sitemap Help SEO?
What you’re probably more concerned about is what this means for your SEO efforts? Well, in the simplest terms, it makes it easier for Google to go through your site; just like it makes it easier for you to organize your site.
See, Google’s a little lazy. It doesn’t want to sift through tons of unorganized site pages to find what it’s looking for. It wants everything laid out in the most efficient way possible, and anything you do to make it easier on Google will help improve your SEO ranking.
When you take the time to use Sitemap properly, you allow Google to quickly index every page of your website and skim it for relevant information whenever it needs to. This is a small step to take, and it has a huge impact on your SEO efforts since Google can more efficiently use your site when it has an updated Sitemap file.
However, you need to add EVERY page to your Sitemap file as you go. Don’t leave any gaps, or Google can have problems indexing your site’s content.