My sites do not have `site maps` is this a big mistake for SEO ?

[jimkirk1943]

Hi guys,
I have never added site maps to my sites, My sites are not really that large the biggest being 20 pages and i have never added a google site map to them.
Is this a big mistake ? am i missing out on higher ranking or anything like that ?

And if so whats the best way to add a site map do i use a WP plugin ?

Thanks Jim

[Vikby]

Well, yes, it is believed that every website should have an XML sitemap submitted to Google to make sure that every page is indexed timely.

If you don't have one, it's not a big mistake, it might well be the case that your web pages are indexed just because other indexed pages link to them.

Still, go ahead and add your XML Sitemap. Use WP plugin called Google XML Sitemaps.

[Paul Barrs]

Jim,

You'll probably get two schools of thought on this, the SEO protagonists (who say you MUST) and the we-just-do-what-we-gotta-do website builders.

For a small site, especially one that is not updated regularly, a site map is not essential - just make sure that all your pages can be "crawled" by the various search engine bots out there; meaning, one link leads to another which leads to another etc.

If you're using Wordpress you can easily install the free Dagon Design Site-map Generator and it'll do it in a snap.

For future, larger sites, it's essential that you have not just a site map, but an xml site map as well; that can sync with the search engines for almost real time updates.

Hope this helps.

Paul Barrs

[jimkirk1943]

Thanks guys whats the difference between a site map and a xml site map ?

and `For a small site, especially one that is not updated regularly, a site map is not essential - just make sure that all your pages can be "crawled" by the various search engine bots out there; meaning, one link leads to another which leads to another etc.`

Paul are you talking about inter linking of my site here or just general page indexing ? as for page indexing i have a plugin i`ve been using for a while now BLE and the blogs are crawled all the time now as the sites have 1000`s of pages my backlinks are indexed in hours and so are any new pages i need indexing when add them into this plugin so for me indexing any pages or backlinks really is simple.

[Sitemapper]

You can read about different sitemap kinds. The article contains both explanations and code examples.

[julien731]

I would say you will not be penalized if you don't have one, but I strongly advise you to submit your sitemap to Google (or at least mention it in your robots.txt), this is just to ensure the whole website will be indexed.

There are plenty of sitemap generation services

[guitarjosh]

Originally Posted by julien731

I would say you will not be penalized if you don't have one, but I strongly advise you to submit your sitemap to Google (or at least mention it in your robots.txt), this is just to ensure the whole website will be indexed.

There are plenty of sitemap generation services

Having a sitemap in no way guarantees your whole sitemap will be indexed. In fact, in testing, I have noticed it makes little difference in what Google indexes. I've launched 20,000 page sites and watched them get half indexed, some get 20% indexed and some get 125% indexed. I've tried to figure out the rhyme or reason many times but there doesn't seem to be one. Most recently, I was helping a friend who had his site deindexed reupload to a new domain. It was identical content in every way.. only the domain name was different, and the site got over 100% indexed in less than a month and it was 30,000 pages. The original site was never more than 30% indexed and it was a year old.

I'm come to the conclusion that a sitemap is a joke.. unless you don't have a pagination system in place that can lead them to all of your links. For a well built site that is all linked up from the front page, one way or another, you don't even need one.

[paulgl]

A sitemap, site map, is not needed for SEO.

It is a huge myth. The sites that actually "need" a sitemap,
do not have their sites structured very well.

Structure your site the right way. That is, all links very, very shallow,
waded in from index page.

Google does not need "help" doing anything.

If you have any subpages that are hidden to the visitor, it
makes no sense to have those pages anyway. And even
if you did, since they exist online, google can still find them.

Structure your site for a visitor to surf around, easily, to each
and every page. Now that's what's needed for SEO, not a sitemap.

Paul

[jimkirk1943]

"That is, all links very, very shallow,
waded in from index page." Paul what does this mean all links very shallow ???

[julien731]

Originally Posted by guitarjosh

Having a sitemap in no way guarantees your whole sitemap will be indexed. In fact, in testing, I have noticed it makes little difference in what Google indexes. I've launched 20,000 page sites and watched them get half indexed, some get 20% indexed and some get 125% indexed. I've tried to figure out the rhyme or reason many times but there doesn't seem to be one. Most recently, I was helping a friend who had his site deindexed reupload to a new domain. It was identical content in every way.. only the domain name was different, and the site got over 100% indexed in less than a month and it was 30,000 pages. The original site was never more than 30% indexed and it was a year old.

I'm come to the conclusion that a sitemap is a joke.. unless you don't have a pagination system in place that can lead them to all of your links. For a well built site that is all linked up from the front page, one way or another, you don't even need one.

That's true, I simplified things quite a lot. The sitemap is a way to optimize your pages indexation, and to make sure that the "deep" pages will be seen by Google.

Saying sitemap is a joke... I can't agree with that. I'd rather say that if the pages in your sitemap are not all indexed (it happened to some of my sites also), it means something went wrong somewhere... Remains to find what !

So I would say sitemap througt Webmaster Tools gives you a clue about what's wrong in your site/SEO.

[guitarjosh]

Originally Posted by julien731

I'd rather say that if the pages in your sitemap are not all indexed (it happened to some of my sites also), it means something went wrong somewhere... Remains to find what !

So I would say sitemap througt Webmaster Tools gives you a clue about what's wrong in your site/SEO.

Not true, Julien.

Not having all your pages indexed in no way means that something went wrong with your sitemap submission. Google decides how much of your site will be indexed based on unknown factors in their algorithm.

It's very common knowledge that Google doesn't guarantee they will crawl your entire site (sitemap or not), and my very large sites rarely ever get fully indexed (and my structure couldn't be any simpler). You can actually head over to the Google forums and they will confirm this in many, many posts.

[faysal969]

Hi, friend I have searched in YouTube and found this video. Hope it may help you creating site map

YouTube - ‪How To Create a Sitemap For...

For more tutorials you may search there. It is a nice place for learning.