Where to link to HTML Sitemap?

[cprodigy29]

After searching this morning and finding unclear answers I decided to ask my SEOmoz friends a few questions.

Should you have an HTML sitemap?

If so, where should you link to the HTML sitemap from?

Should you use a noindex, follow tag?

Thank you

[TheGrid]

I always create one and link from the footer text navigation. It is beneficial for usability and search engine spidering. Also. I never add special qualifiers to links like follow etc etc unless it is in the negative (don't follow etc) and even then you can omit pages via robots.txt

[cprodigy29]

They are also on all the service pages at the top.

[Copstead]

If the site is built well, then all pages would be accessible via 3 clicks. So html sitemaps really aren't needed.

[AWCthreads]

If something is popular, would it be at the bottom?

[cprodigy29]

You're right. I have never clicked on a footer sitemap link either. I have a popular pages section right about the footer. Maybe that be fine work.

[cprodigy29]

I do have XML sitemaps setup correctly. I decided to just add it on the homepage for human visitors and on the 404 pages. The noindex idea was so Google didn't index the sitemap but that's when I had it on every page. I guess it doesn't matter if it's just on the homepage.

[cprodigy29]

I do have XML sitemaps setup correctly. I decided to just add it on the homepage for human visitors and on the 404 pages. The noindex idea was so Google didn't index the sitemap but that's when I had it on every page. I guess it doesn't matter if it's just on the homepage.

[AWCthreads]

Hi Will,

Personally, I approach this from two perspectives: Usability and SEO.

Usability: I don't think I've ever clicked on a footer sitemap myself when looking for things on a website. If organic search does not take me to what I want, I do a bit more browsing with a last ditch effort using the keyword search box. If that doesn't work, I bounce back to my organic search results and try another site or refine my search.

Therefore, I removed the footer sitemap from our ecommerce site and created a left nav link to additional categories. The link is above the fold and I call it "Additional Categories." I am shocked at the volume of visitors who go to that page - far more than every visited our footer sitemap.

SEO: In my opinion, a sitemap moves links up to the second tier click level because they are buried too deep and don't get the juice. These pages need to be moved up perhaps because the link structure and hierarchy are not sound or maybe it is just too big of a challenge to flatten out all portions of a site.

Therefore, I flatten out and improve the link structure (or as sound as you can get). If there are categories that warrant indexing, but are not best sellers, I put them on the additional categories page. If some of the categories are 3 clicks (sometimes 4) and difficult to flatten out or fix, I put them in the additional categories page so people can see them and spiders can crawl them. Our site currently does not have the authority to force the juice to deeper penetration.

[Copstead]

I feel html site maps are no longer needed if you correctly setup XML sitemaps, and also link to them from your robots.txt file.

But if you still want them for users, then I would put it in the footer, and have Google Index and Follow.