When you read a book there is probably always there a section at the beginning called the index. In this section, all the content of the book is listed in numerical order along with the page numbers.
This is a simple way to simplify the book for the readers by giving them a preview of the book so they have an idea of what the book is all about before reading it. This also helps them in deciding whether they want to read the book at all. A Sitemap works the same way for a website.
When you visit a new website, you obviously are a little lost and need some help. That help comes from the sitemap which gives you a list of all pages (or only the important ones if they have a large library) so you do not have to waste your precious time looking for things even you do not know you are looking for.
If you do not want to be lost anymore while visiting a website, you should read further to know the many types of sitemaps and how they come in handy when you need them.
At the primary level, there are only two types of sitemaps which are further divided into more categories.
- HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) Sitemap – this one can be directly compared to a textbook index because it is especially designed to help the users navigate through the website.
- XML (Extensible Markup Language) Sitemap – this kind of sitemap is designed for the search engines to help them crawl through the website and not get lost.
Some other sitemap types –
- Video sitemap falls under the category of XML sitemap but have a specialty to help you navigate through the video section while giving accurate descriptions of each and every one of them.
- Another XML sitemap is an image sitemap which allows you to submit geographical location of the images you are uploading. It helps you in gaining ranks for your uploaded images just like the above sitemap helps in ranking of your videos.
- If you are publishing news on your website, news sitemap may help you in grabbing a rank in the Google news itself. Along with the vital information like publication date etc. it will boost your Search Engine Optimization just like the other sitemaps.
Just like XML sitemaps, HTML sitemaps also benefit you in your optimization by organizing your architect of the website, highlighting the main feature and purposes, and boosting the speed of your search engine crawler.