What Is A Sitemap?
A sitemap is a file on a web server that provides information about the pages, images, videos, and other files on the domain and the relationships between them. Search engines read the sitemap file to crawl a website more efficiently. There are two types of sitemaps: HTML and XML.
XML sitemaps are used to provide search engine crawlers with a list of the website’s pages and other assets as well as additional information about when or how often the content is modified. HTML sitemaps are intended for users of the website and contain hyperlinks to help people navigate through the site.
The best practice for search engine optimization (SEO) is to have both an XML sitemap and an HTML sitemap on the website. The XML sitemap should also be submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for better site indexing.
Visit the SEO Glossary
Go to the SEO Glossary to find more terms and definitions that relate to the field of search engine optimization.
The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.
