SEO-it Article: Different Sitemaps

There are lots of types of sitemap, they all offer slightly different things so by selecting the ones that best work for you, you can help get your website indexed more efficiently and associated with different services.

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap or site map, is a single document that lists most or all of the pages or assets of a certain type on a website.

What types are there?

Below is a list of the sitemaps that are most widely used.

HTML Sitemap

The most common sitemap is a HTML sitemap, which is basically dedicating a standard page on your website that has a list of links to all of the other pages on your website. This is mainly used for accessibility purposes, though can also be used as a site index.

Google XML Sitemap

If you register for a webmaster account with Google, you can currently submit up to 4 different types of sitemap, the most common of which being a standard web sitemap.

This 'General Web' sitemap is now also used by other search engines that can find it through either a link on your website pages, or find it at it's standard location:
http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

This type of sitemap is in XML and defines the location of each page that you want indexes as well as extra information on it's priority or importance on your site and how the said page is expected to be updated.

Other Google sitemaps include mobile content which is created in the same format as a general sitemap, though specific to mobile content pages your website may contain. Sitemaps for code searches and videos can also be used to help populate other Google indexes.

Yahoo! Sitemap

Though yahoo now process XML and ROR sitemaps, their original sitemap format is still used and again, may also be used by an undisclosed number of other search engines and websites.

The original Yahoo! Sitemap comprised of a text file called urllist.txt and is placed at the root of your website. The fine then contains a list of your website pages, one on each line, a sitemap that's easy to generate.

ROR Sitemap

Created by http://www.rorweb.com, these sitemaps are fantastic little things for indexing pages, titles and page descriptions of your site as well as great for accessibility when rendered and displayed.

ROR sitemaps are an XML format sitemap, though that based on RSS sitemap layout. An advanced sitemap, it can link and describe your website's HTML pages, your products, other sitemaps and many other resources of your website. A sitemap type that's being used increasingly more by search engines and accessibility applications alike.

We recommend visiting the ROR Sitemap website and checking out what I can do for yourself, the information is there and it's all free, including their ROR sitemap generator.

RSS Sitemap

One of the best known sitemap types, RSS sitemaps have been used by RSS Reed Readers for years to deliver information, links, articles and information to users everywhere.

The RSS protocol specifies a link, title and description as standard, making it easy to send standardised information out to search engines, other programs and readers, making it easier than ever to spread the world about your website and/or articles and information contained on it.

Starting Small

Even with the free sitemap generator from XML-sitemaps.com, it may be overwhelming to suddenly start adding all manner of sitemaps and feeds to your website. Simply start small, take one at a time, start with a HTML sitemap page on your website as an index and go from there.

Remember to keep your sitemaps up to date, when you add or remove pages from your site, reflect these changes in your sitemaps.

Good Luck!
Team SEO-it.co.uk