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What’s a Sitemap, Anyway?
When the Internet first started making its way into the mainstream, we didn’t have all the cutting-edge navigation tools that Web designers today take for granted. Websites were typically much more straightforward than today and it was often a challenge for visitors to gain a clear understanding of how a site was laid out. On top of this was the lack of search capabilities within the majority of sites, making it harder for people to get to the information that they wanted.
With these challenges in mind, sitemaps were created. Quite simply, a sitemap is a page that is accessible from all pages within a site (usually from the bottom of the page) and contains a list of all other pages within the site. It’s usually laid out in such a way as to group pages together in the same way that the pages are categorized through the main navigation. However, the benefit is that everything is in one place.
I want to consider the significance of this form of sitemap today, in spite of if a more modern XML sitemap is present.
Navigation
Bear in mind that not every browser displays your web page exactly as you designed it. It could be that you’ve created your navigation as images, but the user has images switched off, or that your cool JavaScript menus don’t work since the user has disabled JavaScript. In both of these situations, unless you’ve created some really clever coding to get around the limitations of your visitors’ browser, your visitor could be left unable to navigate your site.
If this happens, but you have a sitemap link at the bottom of each page, you still have a chance. Anyone who regularly uses such a restrictive browser will already be used to searching out alternative navigation and will likely scroll straight to the bottom of the page to click on the sitemap link. From here, they’ll be able to navigate around your site as if they’re using a laser guided website-GPS!
Conveying the “Big Picture”
Another great value of a sitemap is that it’s often the only point on a site where a visitor can obtain a bird’s eye view of everything that you offer and how it’s structured. This is extremely powerful in conveying your message, or your “big picture” to your audience. This can save your visitor a huge amount of time as they won’t have to read through every page to gain this knowledge, and they’re more likely then to click-through to the key areas that really interest them.
Search Engine Optimization
There – I said it! Search Engine Optimization! You knew that SEO would get in here somehow, didn’t you? To be honest, many people don’t realize that these simple sitemaps can be essential in your SEO strategy, as they believe that they’ve been replaced by the ubiquitous XML sitemaps. However, in a world where links are King, consider the value of having one page that links to every other page on your website.
Think about it – whatever page the search robot happens to hit your site on, you’re completely assured that EVERY page in your site will be crawled if you’re using sitemaps! How do you think this will affect your rankings? I can assure you, you’ll like it!
Site Design
On a more practical level, having a sitemap in place gives you, the site designer, a complete overview of your website. This means that whenever you come to make updates or to add new content, you can use the sitemap as a point of reference to establish where the changes are most appropriate. This saves you having to hold the complete structure in your head and forces you to work in a more disciplined, and hence more structured manner. The result – better websites which serve your users better and ultimately serve their purpose within your business.
From this article, the benefit of sitemaps should be completely apparent to you. For anything other than the most basic website (such as sales pages) a sitemap should be considered essential. In my opinion, they’re equally as valuable as XML sitemaps for SEO, and significantly MORE valuable to your visitors. At the end of the day, it’s your visitors who you’re asking to spend money with you!
