There are two types of sitemaps in general; namely HTML (Hyper Text Makeup Language) sitemap and XML (EXtensible Makeup Language) sitemap. Do you want to know the difference between them? If you do, then read on…
What is HTML Sitemap?
HTML sitemap is used to list all hyperlinks of different sections and pages of your blog/website. These hyperlinks are normally listed hierarchically and they may provide description for each link. It is no doubt that adding a HTML sitemap to your blog/website will help your visitors navigate and find information easily. So HTML sitemap is primarily created for humans. Although a HTML sitemap is created for your visitors, indexing bot such as Googlebot might have a better chance to crawl your first-time-missed links again since all the files are well put together in your sitemap page. Check this blog’s sitemap to get a general idea of how a HTML sitemap looks like. You can create your own HTML sitemap from HTML Sitemap Generator here.
What is XML Sitemap?
XML sitemap lists URLs (world wide web addresses) for your blog/website in a special format. See the table below for a XML Sitemap with one single URL:
|
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<loc>http://www.yoursite.com/</loc> <lastmod>2007-12-29</lastmod> <changefreq>monthly</changefreq> <priority>0.5</priority> </url> </urlset> |
It allows webmasters to inform search engines about URLs in your blog/website for easy indexing. XML sitemap is created for search engines but not for humans. Submitting a XML sitemap to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN will not only help your blog/website being indexing quickly and efficiently but also increase your blog/website’s visibilities in search engines as well. For a full version WordPress blog, you can use Google XML Sitemaps plugin to do the trick for you.
Do you have anything to say about this topic? Or any questions?
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4 responses so far ↓
Generate Your HTML Sitemap Using Free Sitemap Generators Online « My Internet Stuff // July 18, 2008 at 7:20 pm |
[...] search engines. If you want to know the difference between them, then check this article out here: What is The Difference Between HTML Sitemap and XML Sitemap?. It is a good practice to have a HTML sitemap for your blog/website because you don’t want [...]
How to Add a Sitemap to Your Blog/Website? « My Internet Stuff // December 6, 2008 at 1:03 pm |
[...] December 6, 2008 · No Comments If you are searching an answer of how to add a sitemap to your blog/website, then this post is for you. Here I’ll talk about how to create a HTML sitemap so don’t confuse it with XML sitemap. See the difference from this post: What is The Difference Between HTML Sitemap and XML Sitemap? [...]
Agnes // January 19, 2009 at 5:44 am |
do you know if the xml sitemap we create for google if it works for Baidu in China as well? how to submit sitemap to Baidu?
Lanna // January 19, 2009 at 11:09 am |
Hi Agnes,
Thanks for stopping by.
About Baidu, I really don’t know much about it. Isn’t that site somewhere listing some menus that tell you what you can or cannot do? Sorry for not being much help!