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In optimizing your site for the search engines, it is easy to understand you should get as much of your site pages indexed as possible. It is, in fact, your most important SEO goal. However, search engines can have trouble recovering links that are buried deep within your site. There exists a simple way to make your pages easy to find for the search engines : adding a sitemap.

A sitemap provides everything a search engine needs to know about all of the pages on your site. And to visitors lost in your site structure, it is a valuable resource for finding their way around.

What’s a Sitemap?

A sitemap displays the inner framework of your site and how site content is organized. Ideally, it also shows how visitors intuitively already find their way around your site. Years ago sitemaps were merely a list of links. Today, they are an important extension of your site. Through descriptive text accompanying the sitemap links, you should create details for each section and sub-section . This will help your visitors, and also provides extra content for the search engines.

In summary, a good site map shows a quick and easy to follow site overview (for your visitors as well as for the search engines), it provides links to and information about every page of your site, it quickly shows visitors how to get where they need to go, and uses keywords that are important to your site.

Tips for Creating a Sitemap

There should be a link to your sitemap on your homepage. This way it’s pushed towards the search engines, who then will follow it all the way through the site. Bury the sitemap too deep and you run the risk a search engine will miss it, just like it would miss the pages you are actually trying to include. Large sites should not include every possible page in their sitemap. When search engines see an endless list of links they’re likely to assume you are a link farm. As a general rule you should have no more than 25 to 40 links on your sitemap. Your human visitors will also appreciate this simplicity. Your sitemap needs to assist your visitors, not confuse them.

Whenever possible, the title of each link should contain a keyword. A short description (10-25 words) under each link teaches visitors what the pages are about. Having short descriptions will also contribute extra content to the search engines. Especially make sure that all of your links actually link to the correct page.

Update !

When your site changes, make sure to update your sitemap as well. Broken links are what makes search engines and visitors stay away from your site.