Is A Site Map For Users Still Important To Search Engines?

In this new GoogleWebmasters clip, Matt Cutts addresses a question about creating a site map for users, or HTML sitemaps. Are they still necessary alongside XML sitemaps.

The answer is a resounding yes.

Clearly Googlebot likes a sitemap, so don’t assume that this is an outdated concept.

An HTML sitemap is actually a faster and more efficient way to get content crawled and indexed than an XML sitemap is. Content that is buried a dozen clicks away from the home page can go un-indexed, despite being listed on an XML sitemap. Adding a user site map, with a link on the home page will get that content indexed fast. Search engine bots are not perfect. Anything you can do to help them crawl your site more efficiently is worth the time.

As Matt says, you don’t need to list every single page of your site on the user sitemap, which could be particularly daunting if your site is very large and adds new content daily. Listing the head categories, or head and sub categories is probably enough.

Also, let’s not forget that this is a USER sitemap. Many site visitors WILL turn to the site map if they’re looking for something specific. Helping them use your site efficiently is just as important as helping the bots.