Google Sitemaps (Pt1) Do I Need an XML Sitemap for My Site?

Is this the same as a regular site map?

Please don't confuse this tutorial on sitemaps.xml with regular "site map(s)", created to link to your pages online within your web site. Granted, a regular map is designed to help search engines find all of your pages, but it also helps visitors to navigate your site as well. Google sitemaps.xml is within the background, which is specific to search engine robots, and helps keep the server bandwidth to a minimum.

What is a Google XML Sitemap?

The sitemap(s) protocol was created by Google, which was first introduced as Sitemaps 0.84 in June 2005. The initial intent for this new programming language was to create an easy to use tool for web site owners, in the attempt to allow large web site submissions into Google search results. Sitemap(s) was created to bridge a gap between the amount of pages a web site actually has internally online, and the amount of pages indexed by Google's search robots.

Do I Need a Sitemap For My Web Site?

Knowing whether a sitemap is necessary for your site greatly depends on a few factors. Below, you will find a simple YES/NO questionnaire, which help you determine whether or not you need to go through the process of creating and submitting your sitemaps.xml to search engines.

1. Is your site larger than 100 pages internally?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
2. Does your site offer new content pages on a regular basis?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
3. Is your web site a forum?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
4. Is your web site a business directory of sorts?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
5. Is your web site a popular blog with many posts?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
6. Does your web site grow more than 10 pages a day?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
7. Does your web site list new members daily?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
8. Does your menu structure change all the time?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
9. Do you need more than one page for a site map online?
   [ ]YES - [ ]NO
   
   
10. Do people have a hard time finding your internal pages?
    [ ]YES - [ ]NO
    
    
11. Does Google find it hard to find your internal pages?
    [ ]YES - [ ]NO
    
    Does your database generate millions of content pages?
    [ ]YES - [ ]NO

If you answered YES to one or more of these questions, odds are that you could benefit from creating a sitemap to submit to search engines.

There have been many discussions on the pro's and cons of submitting sitemaps to search engines. In the end, the results speak for themselves. A properly linked sitemap can help search engines to index pages that you have added within hours, sometimes mere minutes. It is that effective.

Create a Sitemap When You Launch a New Web Site:

Even though your site maybe smaller than 100 pages, if you're about to launch a new site online, a sitemap will help search engines start ranking all of your pages within hours. There's nothing more effective than utilizing this simple tool to start the indexing process within Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

The Great Debate, You Decide:

Many SEO experts believe that linking to your internal pages is the correct method of getting all of your pages indexed online. There is a debate whether or not Sitemaps actually help in the long run for your search engine placements and page ranking.

The key to this debate should be noted within these simple questions:

A) Do you want to wait for search robots to eventually find your new pages, or would you like the top three search engines worldwide to find any new pages within your web site as soon as you launch them?

YOU DECIDE!

B) Why would Google go through all of this trouble to create this protocol if they didn't intend on using the information for their search results? Why would Yahoo & MSN also jump on the bandwagon by providing a sitemap submission form for their search results?

YOU DECIDE!

Within the next issue titled "Google Sitemaps (Pt2) Sitemaps Protocol", I will go through the steps needed to create your sitemap.xml for submission online.

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux, president of the Adcidia network, has over 16 years of experience online while maintaining a network of over 35 web sites. For more tips like these, please visit:

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