Is there any SEO value of an HTML Sitemap, or is it strictly UI/UX?
-
We have an xml sitemap that generates daily, and our site and navigation is strong. Is there any added SEO value in either the links, or content of an html sitemap?
I only see answers from several years ago so not sure if things have changed that would increase or decrease the importance.
Thanks
-
I just want to chime in on the "most people don't bother to consult sitemaps - if they need to consult it to find their way on your site you probably have a UX problem" statement.
I agree, but a lot of sites DO have a UX problem, and for that reason I use HTML sitemaps. If you're in a hurry, and let's face it, everyone is, you can go directly to the HTML sitemap and search for whatever it is you're looking for. And yes, a lot of sites still DON'T have search either b/c they think their UX is fine and therefore don't need search. Can't tell you how many times I've had that conversation with site developers....
-
According to Google webmaster guidelines - a sitemap for users still has some value:
Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map has an extremely large number of links, you may want to break the site map into multiple pages. (source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en)I agree with Patrick that now most people don't bother to consult sitemaps - if they need to consult it to find their way on your site you probably have a UX problem.
For SEO purposes - it still can have some advantages:- it can ensure that your site becomes flatter (content is less clicks away from the homepage)
- Google wants that "Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link." .A HTML sitemap can help with that as well - especially if you have a highly dynamic site where a lot of content is only accessible by (product) search
Sites like Linkedin.com still use these HTML indexes (although they are not called sitemaps but member lists) - as you can check when you visit the site in "Incognito" mode in your browser.
rgds,
Dirk
-
Hi there
From the user standpoint, it can help users understand the structure of your site more, if they click to it. From the SEO standpoint, it can help a bit with moving search and link equity through your site, but it's not a huge factor. Basically, if you have the XML setup and it's crawling fine, a HTML sitemap won't make a huge difference - Google and search engines want the XML sitemap. If you have a huge site, a HTML sitemap can be a big undertaking, but if you're site isn't that large, you have the bandwidth, and you want to create one, then feel free - it won't immensely help or hurt you.
I personally feel that XML sitemaps are more beneficial and are a better use of your time. As a user, I don't often use onsite sitemaps - I feel that if your navigation is set up properly, and you have an internal search, that you are doing the user enough justice to find your content in a quick and efficient matter that it eliminates the need. But again, it's totally upto you.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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
-
External Backlinks - Should I remove/disavow external blog posts done by SEO company?
Last year my company hired an SEO company to build backlinks for targeted achor text keywords. It turns out that they wrote average to below average blog posts that had content related to my business, but that were placed on odd websites, not related to my business. They did this for about one year before I fired them. Should I try to get each of those blog posts removed and then disavow them? If the external links back to my site are nofollow then it is my understanding that I don't really need to worry about them...is that accurate? Is it too risky to keep any external backlinked content alive when it is on a site that is unrelated to my business?
Link Building | | ajgrossman0 -
Blog commenting for SEO - Useful practice?
With most blog comments being no-follow, I was just wondering whether blog commenting for an SEO campaign these days was actually a worthwhile practice. Would love to get some insight on this.
Link Building | | Gavo0 -
Seo for a photographer's website
Hello all, I am a big fan of this site & of SEO. I am a photographer & I do my own SEO (horribly, I must admit), my questions is how to I go about attracting natural links when so much of my content image of weddings & family portraits? How I do get good websites or blogs interested in about my website?
Link Building | | KristopherWho0 -
In-house SEO for dummies
I'm doing some SEO for a small company and they have a guy available to 'assist' me, but he isn't very SEO savvy. Also english isn't his first language. If he could do 5-10 hours per week to help, and you were me, what sort of stuff would you show/teach him to do? Thanks!
Link Building | | timscullin0 -
Redirecting a previously expired domain - any SEO benefits?
Is there any SEO benefits from registering a previously expired domain name that is still linked to form an authorative source and 301 redirecting it to another site on a similar subject? Obviously first benefit is giving users who are clicking on the link to be sent to a site on a similar subject that just to a dead link.
Link Building | | Wardy0 -
Link Analysis Quality Issues / Concerns?
I'm currently using OSE to find out where some of my competitors are getting links. The intention is to find new link opportunities. What i'm finding is A LOT of directories. It seems like for every 1 good link opportunity I'm getting 9 directories. These directories are easy links, but my main worry is quality. Should I be obtaining these links or skip over them?
Link Building | | Hyrule0 -
SEO Tool to search mass URLs (for link qualification)
Hi, I have been using OSE and have a compiled list of backlinks to my competitor's sites. The next step would be to go through and qualify all of these links for a link opportunities for my client's site. To save me a lot of time, I require a tool that will search all of these pages (say 1000) for specific keywords in tags or body content. A search query might be - site:(URL list) intitle:directory site:(URL list) "add site" etc Any ideas would be great. Thanks.
Link Building | | DigitalLeaf0 -
How to do SEO for famous fortune 500 companies
Hello SEOmoz, I have a question to you guys. How typically SEO should be done to fortune 500 comnpanies who are very much famous offline. The problem I see is any links built gets attention and media can make a big deal out of it. For eg: The recent JCPenney SEO issue. Though their paid links got them penalized, other traditional methods can also not fit their stratgy. Here are the traditional methods and how it can not be applied to them. Commenting on blogs - Well, it is reputation here. If some one sees a link on blog comments, it might be fishy and can be named as blog spammers. Forum marketing - Same here. The reputation of clients can go down. Paid post / Paid links - Again risky Please suggest how to build link for type of famous clients. Please do not give stratgic level of advice, but be more specific in your answer. For eg: Do this kind of link building and don't do y. etc., Looking forward for ur answers. Thanks
Link Building | | SamuelDarwin0