An XML sitemap is a fairly simple XML file that contains information about one or more URLs on your Web site. The information that is stored there helps search engines better spider your site.

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XML sitemaps tell the search engines what you site structure looks like and if you site is index-able (meaning ready for prime time on Google or other search engines).

Wikipedia entry for XML sitemaps - Site map - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sitemap XML is an XML file in which your websites URL(s) are saved.It tells all the information of the particular information about the URL.Also if you have submitted a sitemap of your site it helps Google to crawl and index the pages.

Just think of a Table of Content of a book. It guides you through different chapters of the book so you can skip through pages. Search Engine bots, especially Google use the same logic for XML sitemap. It uses this file to understand what each link means to a site by reading the details along with it, like the priority.

If you're using Wordpress, you can use a plugin such as Google XML Sitemaps:

WordPress › Google XML Sitemaps « WordPress Plugins

And build a sitemap on your site at a click of a button.

The sitemap will automatically load all "content" pages/posts on your site and it helps with indexation.

Hi,

Sitemaps are an essential part to any website or blog. I have just written a post about it actually.
Check it out - The Importance of a Sitemap | John Banks Blog

XML sitemap helps web pages to get crawl fast by adding it in Google webmaster tool and xml sitemap can be use by only Search Engines, It's not for Users