Sitemap

When Sitemap rsp. Site Map, rarely also: Site, the complete hierarchical representation of all the individual documents (Web pages ) of a website or a web site called (page structure). Ideally, the site map also shows the hierarchical link structures of the pages. A site map is provided by the operators of a web site to give visitors an overview of the extent and structure has a web presence. For very large Internet Aufritten can in the sitemap, not all individual documents are displayed, so that one is limited to the representation of the hierarchical structure.

Demarcation

The sitemap is not to be confused with a table of contents. The table of contents indicates what topics are included in the website. This must not necessarily coincide with individual documents, because a single page may contain multiple topics. Nor is the sitemap with one (eg alphabetical ) index to be confused. The boundaries between these areas, however, can be applied fluently.

Pros and Cons

Sitemaps are an effective means of search engine optimization, because they ensure that all pages of a website can be reached. This is particularly relevant when portions of the page are generated, for example using Adobe Flash or JavaScript menus, ie Have barriers.

Many search engines also usually follow only a certain number of links within a site, a site map so that for very large web presence to may alone necessary that search engines capture all pages of a website.

Seen from the site usability method is essentially a well-structured and easy to navigate, however, a sitemap is generally preferable. Also, an internal search within a website is a visitor usually faster that what he seeks; in return is waived for the webmaster of administrative burden for a sitemap.

Technical

Sitemaps for Search Engines

The idea of ​​a machine readable sitemap ( eg search engines) leads to the Sitemaps protocol, the URLs of websites including some metadata ( last update, frequency of changes, relevance, relation to other URLs of the website, ...) contains. Such sitemaps allow search engines, for example, a lighter searchability of websites.