Sitemap

Sitemap Design and Tips

Search engines, how do they do what they do? They have friends. They're called spiders and sitemaps.

A Spider, Oh My!

A spider (electronic search spider) is a bot that collects data, copies and stores it for the search engine. When users type in keywords in the search dialog box, that busy little the spider reads a site's content and sends a bot to follow its links to obtain the needed content for storage.

A sitemap?

Essentially a directory, a sitemap lists links to documents and files found in a website. Rather than a random listing, the sitemap is very organized. It's organizedin much the same way as the website that it orgiinated from. It an be compared to the table of contents of a book.

What purpose does a sitemap serve?

The purpose of a sitemap is the same as with any map. It give you directions. Primarily it targets the spiders, giving them directions to your site and the links where keywords can be found. Therefore it is very useful in search engine optimization. If your site is well-organized the spider will find information with ease.

Sitemaps are also useful to web users since they display all the links to information found in a particular website. Many users navigate between pages of a website via sitemaps.

What are the benefits of having a sitemap?

1. Pages will not be missed.

Asitemap allows search engines to view all of the pages of a site not just those with random keywords.

2. Easier navigation

Once the sitemap has been accessed, the user will not need to go back to the search engine page to search for more information.. If what they are looking for is on the site, the map will show it.

3. Advertising value

It is easier to find particular items or services with sitemaps. The looking is done for you.

4. Encourage greater traffic to your site

Sitemaps lead potential buyersto the right place.

How are sitemaps formatted?

Formatting for sitemaps can be done several ways. They are: indexed, full categorical, and restricted categorical. The full categorical map displays all links that fall into that category. Restricted categorical sitemaps display links listed in chosen categories. Both are very similar, except that the full categorical displays all links in all categories at one time. And the restricted categorical focuses on selected categories.

You will find that the full categorical is the most popular. According to a 1999 SURL study, full categorical format is the most preferred and is easier to search for topics with the ability to perform comparisons between and among various categories.

Some tips to help in building your sitemap:

1. Link the sitemap only to your homepage.

This way the spider can start its search at the homepage and work its way down to all of your site's pages, assuring that no pages are missed.

2. No more than 30 pages.

Having more than 30 pages in your sitemap may lead search engines to think that you are a link farm.

3. Check all the links listed in your sitemap.

You don't want people to click on a link that does nothing. So thoroughly test you links on each and every page.

4. Use keyword-rich titles to sitemap links.

Keyword-rich titles will provide a greater advantage in find the right category. Make sure your sitemap is linked back to the sitemap.

5. Use short description for the links in the sitemap.

This will provide the readers with a better idea of what they are about to find and save them time that would be otherwise wasted on surfing.

6. Your sitemap need to be consistently designed

You should use consistent design elements throughout your sitemap. Use the same HTML template for all pages. This will assist in establishing identity.

For even more info on this, please visit my website www.ebookscomputer.com.

Good Luck! :-)Jeff Spires

Article Source: http://www.articlesbasecamp.com

For FREE killer secrets, tips & tricks on how to Generate even more leads. Go to: Internet Marketing Ebooks For Free Download 8 bonus Ebooks for FREE, Instant access. Hurry! Before this offer ends.