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Building A Useful Site Map
By Stoney deGeyter
Expert Author
Article Date: 2008-10-01
What this is about: This list covers issues related primarily to on-site site maps but can also be relevant for xml site maps.
Why this is important: Site maps provide a one-click path to any destination within the site and a way for the search engines to quickly find and index all site pages. Ensuring that your site maps function properly is an important part in ensuring your visitors can find what they want quickly and all site pages get properly indexed.
What to look for: - Keep information current: Site maps are often neglected. Whenever pages are added or removed from your site make sure the site map gets updated as well.
- Link to site map in footer: The footer is the natural place to provide a link to the site map. Header works also, but footer is more common.
- Linked from Help and 404 pages: Your Help and 404 pages are a great place to provide helpful links to your sitemap.
- Provide overview paragraph: Place an introductory/overview paragraph at the top of the Site Map page.
- Provide intro to main sections: If site is divided into sections, provide a quick intro to each section.
- Visible site hierarchy: The layout of your site map should correlate to the hierarchy of the site itself.
- Descriptive text and links: Provide more than just links, but make sure link text is descriptive and/or provide descriptions with each link.
- Link to xml sitemap in robots.txt file: If you created an xml site map for the engines, be sure to link to it in the robots.txt file.
Did I miss anything? Add to this list with your comments below.
This is a continuation of a series of website marketing checklists. Check out all Web Marketing Checklists in this series.
Comments
About the Author:
Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing (www.PolePositionMarketing.com), a search engine optimization / marketing firm providing SEO and website marketing services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. He is the author of his E-Marketing Performance eBook and contributes daily to the E-Marketing Performance (www.eMarketingPerformance.com) marketing blog.
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