In tune with the familiar
objective of any website, Google sitemap
is the latest tool in the hands of the
webmasters to achieve better visibility
and consequently more web traffic to
their websites. A sitemap is basically
an XML file containing a list of URLs
and optionally information about the
links in terms of importance and dynamism.
The sitemap when submitted with Google
and other search engines guides the
first step of the crawling or indexing
process in webmaster’s favor.
Though all search engines implement
their own algorithms to search down
relevant URLs for specified keyword
phrases, all basically follow Google
by example. Accordingly, all search
engines spider across Internet and crawl
through WebPages of each site to locate
URLs of most relevance, as well as,
index them in their database. This is
where a Google sitemap helps. It helps
the search engine be quicker at discovering
your web pages. Thus, you also lend
yourself an influence over the crawling
process of Google search, as you specify
the degree of importance and the frequency
of change for the WebPages you list
in the sitemap. You also eliminate non-essential
pages from inclusion and ensure indexing
of pages you feel are worth it.
Search engines rely heavily on the
relevance and unique nature of content,
link popularity and easy navigation
while indexing Websites in their databases.
Sitemaps simply offers an added view
into your website, on the same lines
as the home page and the HTML site map,
for the search engines while crawling
and indexing.
A sitemap once created needs to be
submitted with the desired search engines
using their own interface for the same.
Though location of sitemap file is a
matter of own discretion, it is always
advisable to include sitemap files in
the root directory, so as to include
any URL in the website in the sitemap.
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