View Full Version : Sitemaps - how important are they?
bobw999
04-30-2007, 08:53 PM
My site does not have a sitemap, therefore my webmaster could not have sent one to any of the search engines. My ratings with MSN and Yahoo are excellent, with Google nothing short of horrendous. Search results that appear on page 1 of both MSN and Yahoo don't appear on the first 50 pages for Google. Could the lack of a Sitemap, and its submission to the SE's, be a problem? And secondly, how does one go about submitting a Sitemap to the SE's? Any help would be appreciated.
Marcia
05-01-2007, 02:44 AM
Bob, it isn't the sitemap that does it, it's links. Get on-topic inbound links.
ishir
05-01-2007, 05:38 AM
Also, the sitemap helps in crawling well.
RobHughes
05-01-2007, 11:50 AM
Right, a sitemap is going to make your site rank better in the search engines (directly) however it will allow more of your pages to be indexed and therefore increase your chances of capturing a targeted term/phrase and hopefully a customer.
If your results are poor in Google - you could start by opening a Google Sitemaps account (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/)
and creating an XML sitemap using a tool like...
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ (depending how big your site is).
Follow the instructions in Google Sitemaps and you will be on your way.
Stay away from search engine submission tools that automate this kind of thing. Your webmaster could also create a static sitemap on your website which might help.
More important than all of this - follow Marcia's instructions.
Sitemaps are a good idea but be sure the XML validates.
NewbieSteve
05-01-2007, 07:28 PM
Sitemaps are a good idea but be sure the XML validates.
I have no problems getting my XML sitemaps to validate on both Google and Yahoo.
Steve
bobw999
05-02-2007, 03:50 AM
First of all, thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. Question - when we talk about inbound links, are we generally talking about reciprocal link arrangements with other websites. I have found that very few webmasters respond to my email requests to trade reciprocal links. There's no money in it for them, so why should they bother. As a result, my site has something like 6 incoming links. How do you guys go about getting links?
ishir
05-02-2007, 07:58 AM
First of all, thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. Question - when we talk about inbound links, are we generally talking about reciprocal link arrangements with other websites. I have found that very few webmasters respond to my email requests to trade reciprocal links. There's no money in it for them, so why should they bother. As a result, my site has something like 6 incoming links. How do you guys go about getting links?
Constant tweaking of strategy and persistency is the key. The success rate is below 5% from my experience.
breezeman
05-09-2007, 01:35 PM
If your navigational structure is good than a sitemap isn't needed at all. I even prefer not to have them.
NewbieSteve
05-09-2007, 02:27 PM
What's the advantage of not having one?
Steve
Solana Beach Design (http://www.solanabeachdesign.com)
What's the advantage of not having one?
Steve
Solana Beach Design (http://www.solanabeachdesign.com)
I don't think there is any "advantage" to not having a Google Sitemap!