What is a Site Map?

A site map (also known as a site index) presents a compiled list of web pages and links associated with a URL. Web site tacticians create site maps to provide search engines with easily identifiable reports on web site activities. Search engines can crawl site maps to determine visibility and ranking for different keywords. Thus, any optimization campaign (trying to get your web site ranked higher) should involve building and maintaining a solid, descriptive site map.

Site maps also help web site entrepreneurs gain visibility for non-HTML links, such as Java pages or Flash videos. Ordinarily, major search engines can’t peer into the text and content buried in these “exotic” formats. But when a web site builder posts them in the site map, the engines generally find them easier.

Building a site map can also help you organize your web site according to macroscopic principles. When you view all of your web pages and links arrayed according to geographic context, you can get a bird’s eye perspective on what’s missing and what’s redundant in your current web site design.

You can also send your site map to a consulting agency or an interested colleague for advice about how to tweak the general parameters and make your web site publishing both more visible to the search engines and more appropriate for your promotional purposes.

Web site mavens and technicians have been experimenting with various ways to visualize site maps for easier maintenance. A three-dimensional representation of your web site may not yield extravagant insights into your design or operation, but it can clue you into what may be missing from your web site -- particularly when you compare your map to the site maps of other, more successful internet vendors in your industry.

It’s also a wise idea to keep track of the links that you put out and receive from other companion web site entrepreneurs. Check link accuracy and relevance on a regular basis. Well structured and smartly integrated links can improve your SEO strategy; poorly sorted or inappropriate/irrelevant links can damage your reputation.

If you are a newbie to the field of ecommerce, or if you simply don’t have the energy to maintain or redesign your site map, you can hire a third party service, like a Superpages’ consultant, to deal with technical snafus and optimization for you.

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