A site map is a page of your website from which all other pages are linked. Usually the links to your pages will be grouped under headings and subheadings, with the home page at the top and then directories and subdirectories of pages listed underneath. Having a site map on your website can be useful for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, if you have a large website, it can be extremely helpful for your visitors to find what they're looking for, especially if you have an extensive archive of previous news reports or articles. There's nothing more frustrating than a site on which visitors have to make more than two or three clicks to get to the page they want. A site map provides a portal for your visitors to find the information they want quickly.

Also, because a good site map consists of text links only, your visitors can use the intra-page search function of their browser to find a particular page heading. What is more, they will easily be able to see which pages they have visited and which they have yet to explore, by way of the colours of each link. (You must make sure that each of your pages has only one URL, or this won't work properly: a common mistake is to make links to URLs ending in directories and omitting the closing / on the domain name, e.g. "www.mysite.com/mystuff" instead of "www.mysite.com/mystuff/". If you do this, visited links won't change colour, so be sure to add the / at the end of directory URLs.)

One of the greatest benefits of a site map is the improvement to search engine rankings that it will afford your site. A site which is interlinked thoroughly is far more attractive to search engines than a "linear" site where each page is linked to the next, but not to all the others. This is partly because search engines know that a well-linked site is easier for visitors to use, and partly because search engines index pages by visiting links – so they're more likely to find all the pages of your site if they are linked to a central hub in the form of a site map.

A site map is a must if you have a large website, but even a personal site can benefit from one. The improved search engine rankings and the additional usability afforded to your visitors are worth the effort ten times over.

By Natalie Catchpole