More on Google Site maps
Date: 15 August 2007

Because a huge number for people have been receiving an email from several US companies offering to load a Google site map for them, we thought we would give you a little more information on Google site maps (as opposed to an onsite Site Map).

The emails start something like “As I was on http://www.yoursite.co.nz this morning, I was unable to locate a "Google Sitemap file" on your website.”

The emails subtly imply that there is something seriously wrong with your site if you don’t have a sitemap file – this is largely wrong. Your site is not broken.

From Google FAQ at…

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318

What is a sitemap and why should I use one ?

“You can use a sitemap file to tell us about all the pages on your site, and optionally, to provide information about those pages, such as which are most important and how often they change. Sitemaps are particularly helpful if your site has dynamic content, pages that aren't easily discovered by following links, or if your site is new and has few links to it.”

If you require more information read the rest of the Google FAQ article.

Essentially, by using a sitemap you are telling Google what your site’s structure is in case it is unable to crawl the site properly when it visits. It is generally not necessary to have one if you have a small site with good html navigation and content that is not changing often. Google should crawl all of your site anyhow. It is most useful for very large sites with frequently changing content and structure, or if you have recently made major structure changes to your existing site.

The other point is that you do not need the US company to see up a Google sitemap for you. It is possible to do this yourself or ask your web developer or web marketing company to do this on your behalf.

How do you set one up

If brief, first you set up a Google account. Then you create a sitemap and upload it to your site. You then tell Google the name of the file so it can find it. You also have to upload another small file so Google can verify that you are the site owner or have authority.

Sitemap files are normally written in xml format, which is different to a site map you may have on your site for human visitors to look at. There are a number of free sitemap generator tools which will create a sitemap for you as long as your site is smaller than 500 pages.

The process is not at all difficult but does require you or someone to set up a Google account (free) and upload two files to your web site using FTP access. Sitemaps can also be used for Yahoo Search and other engines as well as Google.

While the emails circulating are not totally inaccurate, they do make it sound like ‘rocket science’ that only they can do, and which is vital to the success of your site. Neither is entirely accurate! Your site is not broken if you don’t have sitemap file and you don’t need to panic in to signing up for them to upload one for you.

If you really think you need a sitemap file, check with your or web marketing partners or developer first. They should be able to do advise you or do it for you.

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