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Sitemaps, Part 2

In my last post, I discussed the value of a sitemap for visitors to your site. Now, let’s take a minute to look at XML sitemaps. This type of sitemap is not intended for human visitors to your site, but rather for search engine spiders.

Wittmania.com SitemapAn XML sitemap lists out the pages of your site, along with hierarchical and date information. Click on the thumbnail to the right to see what the sitemap for Wittmania.com looks like this when viewed in a browser. However, when a search engine spider accesses the XML sitemap it sees a great deal of information about the pages in your site, in an organized and concise presentation. This ensures that the spiders don’t miss important site content when they index your site’s content. If content isn’t indexed, it won’t be included in search results.

As you might expect, I include an XML sitemap with every website I create. If you have questions about how to create an XML sitemap for your small business website, let me know.

Sitemaps, Part 1

Most small business websites are small enough that visitors can find what they are looking for very quickly. For example, the CS Kitchen and Bath Studio site only has four pages. You can get to any of them with one click using the navigation menu at the top of each page. For a site like this, the key is to have a prominent, visually distinct navigation area to help visitors get where they’re going.

But what if your site is larger or more complex? While you may be able to quickly find the page you’re looking for (after all, it is your site), it may be tough for a first-time visitor to find the content they’re after. While the value of an intuitive and well thought out site structure can’t be overstated, you can do your website visitors a tremendous favor by providing a sitemap.

Let’s consider the Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter website. Their site has nearly 50 static pages and an ever-increasing number of blog posts. While all of this information is valuable and serves a purpose, it is useless if visitors can’t get to it. That’s where their sitemap page comes in.

First, the page lists every page from the site in one place. If I came to their site because I need to contact Jeff Downing, I can quickly jump to his page. If I’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, I know exactly where to go.

Second, the sitemap gives me a visual understanding of how the site is organized. I can quickly ascertain that the site has been organized into 7 parent pages, many of which have child (and even grand-child) pages beneath them. This level of detail can help a visitor know where to start, even if they don’t see a page that is exactly what they are looking for. You can “go the extra mile” by providing your visitors with a search form. Between the sitemap and the search functionality, your visitors should be able to find exactly what they are looking for.

Flash and Images: What you see is not what you get.

If you want new customers to be able to find your site, you need to keep a three letter abbreviation in mind.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. All this loaded web design term really means is that you need to pay attention to the things that Google and Yahoo! say are important.

Search engines use programs called spiders or bots to visit websites and index site content. This data is behind the search results that come up when you search for keywords on your favorite search engine.

It is important to note that search engine spiders can only process text. That means that images, audio, or Flash-based content is basically invisible to them. So, that 700×200px banner image that contains your “mission statement” is completely ignored by the search engines. While it may look good to you, a bot can’t tell if it’s a picture of a watermelon, a fire truck, or your carefully crafted explanation of your organization’s existence.

Many site designers don’t take this into consideration when creating a site. They might be able to put a visually appealing site together, but they don’t stop to think about the relationship between design, functionality, and search engine accessibility.

If you’re ready to speak with an expert about optimizing your small business website for the best possible search engine rankings, let me know. I would be happy to review your existing site and point out any recommendations I may have.

Testimonial:

Wittmania did a great job on two sites for us. The sites have a clean, professional look and are easy to maintain. As for support, Mike responded quickly when things needed a tweak after a system upgrade. I had some webmaster responsibilities for a previous employer. I wish I had been doing it like Mike does.
Keith Ghormley
Zion Church, PCA

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