The Benefits for SEO and Users

A sitemap is a crucial web site part for each customers and search engines like google and yahoo.

It helps them uncover your web site’s pages.

Whereas it’s essential to cater to search engines like google and yahoo particularly with an extensible markup language (XML) sitemap, it is also essential to maintain your website organized for customers, too.

That is the place an HTML sitemap is available in.

What Is an HTML Sitemap?

A hypertext markup language (HTML) sitemap is an easy webpage that lists the pages in your web site.

It appears like this:

Consider it because the desk of contents in a e book, the place you’ll find a listing of chapters and subchapters. 

An HTML sitemap equally shows your web site’s most important pages and subpages. Making it tremendous straightforward for customers to seek out what they’re searching for.

Ideally, customers ought to be capable of discover the content material they want by means of your navigation menu. Nevertheless, it helps to arrange your HTML sitemap as if it is a listing to your website.

HTML Sitemap vs. XML Sitemap: What is the Distinction?

There are two most important sorts of sitemaps:

• HTML sitemap: This sitemap is offered in a user-friendly, clickable format and permits guests to navigate your website
• XML sitemap: That is written in a format designed for search engines like google and yahoo like Google

The important thing distinction between the 2: 

An HTML sitemap focuses on making the web site extra user-friendly for people, whereas an XML sitemap is created solely for search engine spiders (additionally referred to as crawlers and bots).

They use the XML sitemap to crawl and index your website. Which is essential if you wish to rank in search engines like google and yahoo and get extra site visitors.

Advantages of an HTML Sitemap

Provided that search engines like google and yahoo can use XML sitemaps for crawling, you would possibly surprise why you must trouble with an HTML sitemap.

Rating in search engines like google and yahoo is all about optimizing for crawlers, proper?

Not fairly. Don’t overlook that search engines like google and yahoo additionally think about person expertise when rating web sites. 

By creating an HTML sitemap in your website, you make your web site extra user-friendly to create a constructive person expertise. Which improves your possibilities of rating increased.

Other than making your web site extra user-friendly, an HTML sitemap offers these advantages:

• Organizes giant web sites: An HTML sitemap primarily serves as a listing for webpages, permitting web site homeowners to arrange their giant and complicated web sites
• Makes it simpler for search engines like google and yahoo to seek out your pages: A well-organized HTML sitemap might help search engines like google and yahoo discover your content material shortly and simply. To allow them to crawl it.
• Creates inner hyperlinks: Your HTML sitemap additionally permits you to add internal links to your pages, that are vital for website positioning
• Improves website navigation: Having an HTML sitemap improves your web site’s general navigation. By itemizing all of your pages on a single web page. So customers can discover what they want simply.

Tip: Try Semrush for free to leverage instruments and knowledge that can assist you rank increased in Google. 

Learn how to Create an HTML Sitemap

There are two methods to create an HTML sitemap:

1. Utilizing plugins—when you use a content material administration system (CMS)
2. Making a sitemap manually

Let’s undergo each.

Utilizing Plugins with Your CMS

In case your web site is constructed on a CMS like WordPress, you should utilize plugins that generate an HTML sitemap for you routinely.

We advocate the Simple Sitemap plugin for this.

To make use of a plugin, you have to set up it in your WordPress CMS. 

As soon as it’s put in, create a brand new web page. 

Give your web page the title “Sitemap.” Then, click on the plus icon to insert a brand new block. 

Within the dialog field that seems, choose “Browse all” after which scroll down till you see the Easy Sitemap part. 

Subsequent, click on on the icon for the “Easy Sitemap Group.” This motion will set off the plugin to routinely generate a sitemap to your web site.

Lastly, save the web page.

You possibly can then publish the sitemap web page and hyperlink to it from the footer part of your homepage.

Don’t use WordPress?

There are plugins for different CMSs, too. 

In case your website is on Joomla, you should utilize JSitemap. If it’s on Drupal, you should utilize the Sitemap module.

Making a Sitemap Manually

In case your website is smaller (100 pages or fewer), you too can create your sitemap manually. 

To begin, make a listing of all of the pages in your web site. Then, hand this record over to your developer. Who will create a normal HTML web page, itemizing all of your pages with hyperlinks to them.

Making a sitemap manually permits for full management over the construction and design. 

Nevertheless, it requires handbook updates every time there are modifications to your web site’s pages.

HTML Sitemap Examples

Want some inspiration for designing your HTML sitemap?

Let’s take a look at how well-known manufacturers have designed theirs. 

Right here’s what H&M Group’s HTML sitemap appears like:

It’s a traditional HTML web page itemizing out all of the pages. And their hierarchical place within the website’s construction.

And right here’s how Goal has designed their HTML sitemap for his or her job portal:

It’s a easy HTML web page damaged into three sections.

The following instance is from Customary Chartered:

This sitemap has a number of sections. 

Every part has subsections that record the totally different services the financial institution gives. 

This sitemap additionally contains hyperlinks to different essential pages like “World profession alternatives,” “About Customary Chartered,” and “Media contacts.”

Get Insights Into Your Web site’s website positioning

Making a sitemap is only one solution to optimize your website for search engines like google and yahoo and customers.

However in order for you your web site to be much more optimized, you have to maintain issues like bettering site speed, creating a sturdy site architecture, and utilizing on-page SEO.

And guarantee there aren’t any technical points current.

If you happen to’re a Semrush person, you should utilize the Site Audit instrument to seek out any points hindering your website positioning efficiency.

Configure a project in the tool to run your first audit.

As soon as all the pieces is about up the way in which you need, click on “Begin Web site Audit.”

When it’s full, navigate to the “Points” tab. 

You’ll see “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices” detected in your website.

Click on “Why and learn how to repair it” to be taught extra about what a selected problem is, the way it impacts your website positioning, and how one can repair the difficulty.

Resolve every problem to enhance your web site’s website positioning well being and assist it rank increased in search outcomes.