What Is A Sitemap? The Different Types, Uses & SEO Best-Practice
Maps have been an important tool used by humans for years. They provide us with a sense of direction and help us navigate unfamiliar surroundings. As much as maps are useful in the real world, they are just as essential within the digital landscape. Sitemaps are a website’s blueprint, ensuring that users and search engine crawlers can find their way around.
In this article, we explore what a sitemap is, find out more about the different types of sitemap, and dig deeper into their benefits and importance within the search landscape.Table of Contents
- What is a sitemap?
- The different types of sitemaps
- Do I need a sitemap?
- What are the benefits of having a sitemap?
- How do I locate my sitemap?
- Sitemap best practices
- Using a sitemap for international SEO
What is a sitemap?
A sitemap is a file that shows the structure of a website, listing out important URLs. The purpose of a sitemap is to help search engines find, crawl and index the content on a website, and some sitemaps help users navigate a website.
There are different types of sitemaps, which are influential for SEO and improving your online visibility.
The different types of sitemaps
Standard XML sitemap: The most common type of sitemap that is often read by search engine crawlers to understand a website.
Image sitemap: A type of XML sitemap that helps search engines find all the images on a website.
Video sitemap: Another type of XML sitemap that helps search engines find all the videos on your website. Video schema has largely replaced the need for a video sitemap.
News sitemap: This helps Google find the content hosted on your website that is suitable for Google News.
HTML sitemap: A sitemap that is a regular page designed to help users navigate a website. This also helps ensure all important website pages are internally linked by at least one other page.
The two most common types of sitemap you will find on a website are the XML and the HTML sitemap.
XML sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important pages of a website to help search engines like Google discover, crawl, and index them more efficiently. XML stands for ‘Extensible Markup Language,’ which is a format designed to store and transport data.