Hi Moz peeps, google said that we should have two site maps...
-
Hi Moz peeps, google said that we should have two site maps...
one for google and one for people. Now i know having a site map to submit to google for the first time is important for SEO, but is having a site map for people visitng the site help at all in terms of google's bots crawling your site?
I know it might actually help human people navigate through your site, I just want to know if by not having it or having it affects on page SEO at all,
thanks guys
-
David
I think what you are referring to is HTML sitemaps vs XML Sitemaps and the inclusion of both. Google prefers XML and people use HTML : From GWMT -
Sitemaps are a way to tell Google about pages on your site we might not otherwise discover. In its simplest terms, a XML Sitemap—usually called Sitemap, with a capital S—is a list of the pages on your website. Creating and submitting a Sitemap helps make sure that Google knows about all the pages on your site, Including URLs that may not be discoverable by Google's normal crawling process.
I agree with the others, that an HTML sitemap can be helpful to visitors. For indexing, we use XML.
Best
-
Hi David, For SEO to be effective it is important that the search engine spiders and web crawlers can properly index a site. Based on your site's architecture and its links (both external and internal) the engines can establish and weight the profile of how each interacts to map out which pages have the highest significance to their index.
One of the most effective ways of encouraging full and extensive visiting and indexing of your site by the spiders is to integrate a site map (or maps) into your development. Sitemaps are an easy way for web masters to represent the structure of a site and inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. Human visitors also appreciate site maps as navigation.
An HTML sitemap is an actual page on a site containing links to the website's most important pages. Any site with anything approaching complex navigation should consider an HTML sitemap for visitors. Whilst an HTML sitemap can be read and the links followed by spiders (so some passing of link juice is involved that might affect SEO), it also has the advantage of being readable by humans as well.
A visitor might refer to an HTML site map to help them navigate when they can't find a specific page easily. This visitor readability and usability issue that allows users to locate pages within a large site will give weight to your site in the SERP's, (search engine ranking pages) as they will weight your pages favourably for catering to your users and being user-friendly.
HTML sitemaps, however offer only a general guide to a site, an overview, not necessarily containing all the links available to spider in a website. This is especially the case for websites that contain dynamically generated pages (shopping carts, etc).
editor's note: for complete post, see http://www.seoconsult.com/on-page-search-engine-optimisation/what-effect-do-xml-and-html-sitemaps-have-in-relation-to-seo.html
I hope that you r query has been solved.
-
Hi David,
If you have a good structure on your website then there is no need for a HTML sitemap. By good structure I mean, is every important page on your site easily accessible within 2 clicks from any other page on your website? Are your menu's SEO friendly? Are your main products/services highlighted on your home page in summary? I do not use an HTML sitemap on any of my sites, I just make sure that Google can access every page that is important to me no matter where they land on my site.
-
Hello,
A site map for people will not only help visitors find your content easier but it will also help at SEO, because it improves the way your data is linked internally - increasing the number of internal inbound links.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Responsive site.com vs m.site.com
Hi All, My client's website have two urls like: site.com/a.html and **m.site.com/a.html. ** Will it hurt google rankings for this website because there are version of a website? Please help!
On-Page Optimization | | binhlai1 -
If Product Pages Perform Well In Google then Is It Possible That Category Page Can perform Well In Google?
Hi All, For my ecommerce site I have optimized my product pages very nicely like good images, detailed information about products, good reviews, implemented schema for my product and reviews and very perfect onpage. Now my query is if my products pages performing well in google then there are chances that my category page rank well in google too? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | wright3350 -
Google rendering mobile to the right
So the website is displaying correctly in mobile devices and online tools. However, when using Google Page Speed Insights mobile or fetch as mobile in Search Console the page always loads as if it has moved 50% of the screen to the right - so whitespace on the left then 50% of the page in on the right side. I've been ignoring this. The site loads fine in devices and i've put it down to a glitch in Google, but at the same time it's been bugging me. Has anyone else seen this and should I ignore?
On-Page Optimization | | MickEdwards0 -
Blog Site Set-Up/Frequency
Hello! I am a new blogger that is just getting started. All I have done so far is purchase a domain name and signed up with Blue Host. From what I am reading, WordPress seems to be the most recommended plug-in to get going. There is a lot of material out there on SEO and I wanted the community's thoughts on where to start. My blog is intended to provide readers with information on a particular topic. It is a vast area with much to write about - I intend on populating the content myself/with the help of experts in the field. It is not news so it is not time sensitive. Here are my questions: 1. As this is a brand new site, should I be blogging every day or is couple of times a week sufficient? I am able to produce content fairly quickly in the beginning as there is a lot to write about. Should I write a whole lot of content first and then release it on a schedule (twice a week, daily, etc.)? As it is a new site, I don't want it to launch with just one article.. 2. I am taking a WordPress class next week, but as someone that is not too familiar with copy/backlinks, other mechanisms to boost SEO. does WordPress make it easy enough to optimize your site for search results or does it require more expertise? As far as I see, my first tasks are to 1. ) set up the site effectively so people can find it and 2.) create valuable/engaging content. Appreciate any advice on setting up the site, blogging frequency, other tips to get going. I don't want to launch a site and get dinged by Google for reasons I am unware of..At some point, when I have a robust set of content, I am thinking of FB advertising to increase traffic to the site. Seems a bit premature to do that at this point.. Thanks all in advance for your feedback!
On-Page Optimization | | mmprakash0 -
Google Indexing Wrong Title
Hey guys ! I have a wordpress website and also yoast seo plugin . I've set up a meta title which is : TV Online | Assistir Filmes| Notícias | Futebol |GogsTV . (I checked on some free tools to see , and they also show up this) but .... google is showing this : GogsTV: TV Online | Assistir Filmes| Notícias | Futebol . Seems they are trying to show my brand name first instead of my main keyword . I'm not sure why it doesnt indexes as i want ... Does anybody know how can i fix this . Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | tiagosimk0 -
Google Site Search & SEO benefits
Hi all - I've had a comb through the forums here but can't seem to find any updates on whether there any tangible benefits for using Google Site Search. We're currently exploring using Lucene, Oracle Endeca, & Google Site Search - but from what I've read so far there are no quantifiable benefits for choose Google over any others. Everything I've read is rumor-mill...anybody have experience or references? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | kenno690 -
Optimisation for Google Images
What techniques do you use for the optimisation of images on Google. Alt tag , image title Surrounding text Anyone tested actual linking to the image url and not the page url. I have achieved hundreds of top listed images but when it gets competitive what is the most useful technique you have used. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0 -
Should I let Google index tags?
Should I let Google index tags? Positive? Negative Right now Google index every page, including tags... looks like I am risking to get duplicate content errors? If thats true should I just block /tag in robots.txt Also is it better to have as many pages indexed by google or it's should be as lees as possible and specific to the content as much as possible. Cheers
On-Page Optimization | | DiamondJewelryEmpire0