For any website of more than about 20 pages, a site map is a must. A site map is a page of your website, usually generated by an XML document with the extension ".sitemap". On this page, all your web pages are listed in categories in a structured way, so that visitors can easily find the bit of your website they are looking for, either by looking under the category they need, or by searching the page for a term.

Visitors navigate websites in many different ways, if given the choice, and some people's preference is to use the site map. Therefore it's very important that you provide one. You should also be aware that search engines can use the XML sitemap document to help index your site. The Google webmaster tool centre has a sitemap generator. You can then submit your sitemap to Google for indexing.

If your site is very large indeed, you may wish to split your sitemap into several sections. This could make things easier for your visitors. Use your discretion to decide: if you have several clearly defined products or services which can have separate sitemaps on separate pages, this might be a wise decision for clarity and ease of use. If, however, you suspect it is unlikely that your visitors will necessarily know under which category a page will come, having your whole sitemap on one page can be useful because your visitors can do an intra-page search to find the page they are looking for.

By Brian Jackson

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