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Site Maps
Your site map is a valuable tool in your mission to get the search engine
crawlers to visit every page on your site.
What is a Site Map?
As you'll see if you visit the Site Map on this site, a Site Map is
just a simple representation of the content of the site. In the case of a small
web site, the Site Map may contain a link to every page. On a larger site, it
is more likely to contain links to all the major subject areas, plus any
especially important pages.
Why is my Site Map Important?
As well as providing a way for your users to find their way around, your site
map provides an excellent method of ensuring that the crawlers find your
content. If your site map contains links to all your pages, and is in turn
linked to from your Home Page, then every page in your site can be reached in
two clicks from your home. This is a great way to ensure that the crawlers
don't get "lost" along the way. Similarly, if your site falls foul of any
of the Site Design rules discussed elsewhere, your SiteMap is a way to make
sure that crawlers still have a route open to them.
Rules for Site Map Construction
Even more so than the rest of your site, you want your Site Map to be crawler
friendly. All the rules discussed on this site are relevant, but in particular:
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Your Site Map should be linked to from every page on your site. e.g. from the
header.
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Links in the Site Map should be plain HTML
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Important links should be towards the top. Most crawlers assume
that content near the top of the page is more important than content further
down. Also, some crawlers have limits as to the number of links they will gather
on any given page.
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