The argument about the usability of HTML sitemaps and their SEO effectiveness continues.
However, in my opinion, they are beneficial to users, and there is no reason not to have one. It’s even great if there’s extra SEO benefit.
A sitemap directs users to the areas of your website where they wish to go. If they can’t find what they’re searching for in your dropdown menus or on-site search, they’ll go there.
There are many additional good reasons to utilize a sitemap besides helping your visitors navigate your website (which should be the main aim of any marketing campaign). We’ll go through them in more detail later.
What Are HTML Sitemaps and How Do They Work?
HTML sitemaps are supposed to help website visitors. The sitemaps are a well-organized table of content that includes every page on the website, from the primary pages to the lower-level sites.
An HTML sitemap is just a list of a website’s pages that can be accessed by clicking on them. It may be an unordered list of every page on a site in its most basic form – but don’t do that.
It’s well worth the effort since this is a fantastic chance to bring some structure to the chaos.
Why Should You Use HTML Sitemaps?
While you may already have an XML sitemap – and some argue that an HTML sitemap is obsolete — there are seven compelling reasons to add (or preserve) an updated HTML sitemap.
- Make Large Websites Organizable
The size of your website will increase.
You may grow your product catalog or create an eCommerce shop with many departments. Or, more likely, the site will continue to expand as new ideas become a part of the organization.
- Act as both a project manager and an architect
Consider the HTML sitemap as a blueprint for your website’s design.
The sitemap is now used to organize projects. It is in charge of the structure and links between pages and subpages.
- Emphasize the website’s goal
As a content-based document, the HTML sitemap allows you to better describe the value of your website.
Increase the value of this advantage by utilizing SEO to find the most unique and relevant keywords to put in the sitemap.
- Make Search Engine Crawlers Work Faster
You want to assist those search engines in whatever manner you can while also gaining control when possible. Finding your material and advancing it up the crawl queue are part of the service. - Improve the visibility of your website in search engines
Google and other search engines may not go to the trouble of indexing every page on certain websites.
If you have a link on one of your sites, for example, search bots may opt to follow it.
The bots want to check sure the link is correct. However, the bots may never return to index the remaining pages due to this action.
- Use Page Links To Drive Visitors In A Natural Way
The HTML sitemap may help you locate these appropriate links that address how visitors search for information.
The HTML sitemap may represent the visitor’s path and direct them from research to purchase. This feature of HTML sitemaps may help these connected sites appear higher in organic search results.
- Determine where site navigation may be improved.
Duplicate data, which may be troublesome for a search engine, may appear as your website expands and additional pages are added.
However, after you’ve mapped everything out, you’ll be able to utilize the sitemap to locate and eliminate any duplicate content.
As an aside, this only works if the sitemap is owned by someone who looks at it on a semi-regular basis.