How to Create an HTML Sitemap

HTML Sitemap and Its Functionality

An HTML sitemap is a catalog of all website sections, visually represented in a hierarchical tree structure. Essentially, it's a site guide with a table of contents. The link to the HTML sitemap should be placed in the website footer.

HTML Sitemap: Why Is It Needed?

As mentioned earlier, an HTML sitemap acts as a visual guide to the site, significantly simplifying navigation, primarily for search engine bots.

For example, you sell Xiaomi smartphones. The navigation path to the relevant page on your site would be:

Home Page → "Electronics" Section → "Mobile Phones" Category → "Smartphones" Subcategory → "Xiaomi Smartphones" Subcategory

Important! This represents a 5-level nesting depth, while your sitemap shows only a 3-level depth.

Home Page → Sitemap → "Xiaomi Smartphones" Subcategory

Important! The deeper the page (beyond level 5), the harder it is for search engines to scan and index it.

A sitemap serves a dual purpose: demonstrating the site structure and identifying priority pages using tags when nesting depth exceeds 4 levels.

Important! If nesting depth exceeds 4 levels, internal linking on your site should be optimized.

HTML Sitemap: Required Properties

To fully perform its intended functions, an HTML sitemap must have certain properties. While not numerous, they are essential:

1. Site navigation should be effortless. The sitemap must be simple.
2. Links must be up-to-date to effectively promote relevant pages.
3. Automatic regular updates ensure the catalog remains current.
4. The sitemap must accurately reflect the actual site structure without distortion.
5. Design and styling should be consistent with the overall website appearance.

How to Create an HTML Sitemap: Recommendations

When creating an HTML sitemap, follow key principles to ensure quality scanning and maximum indexing in search engines:

1. The sitemap should include all indexable structural pages:

• Sections
• Categories
• Subcategories

However, the following page types, which make up nearly 90% of all site pages, should not be included:

• Product pages
• Posts
• Articles
• Filtering and pagination pages

2. HTML sitemap must be automatically updated regularly to maintain catalog accuracy.

3. For large websites with complex structures, it's better to create a multi-page HTML sitemap.

4. The sitemap must clearly maintain the logical hierarchy: Section → Category → Subcategory.

5. Anchors should use only relevant keywords. Avoid transactional keywords or phrases like "buy," "purchase," or "order."

6. The HTML sitemap link must be placed in the website footer on all pages.

7. It's helpful to include a link to the sitemap on the 404 error page.

8. All links in the HTML sitemap must return server response code 200.

HTML Sitemap: Creation Algorithm

An HTML sitemap can be created in two ways: automatically or manually. The manual method suits experienced users or small websites.

1. Create various HTML sitemaps using the SiteMap Generator service. Note that the free version works only for sites with fewer than 500 pages. Other popular automatic generators include: MySitemapGenerator, HTML Web, SaitReport, and Cy-Pr.
2. For WordPress, use the WP Sitemap Page plugin. For DLE, other resources are available.
3. Create a sitemap using Netpeak Spider, which allows creating all types of sitemaps and configuring parameters.

Main generation steps:

• Launch the program
• In the "Settings" section (sidebar), check "H1-H6 Headers" and "Head Tags".
• Enter the website URL in the address field
• Click the "Start" button
• After scanning, in the tools menu select "Sitemap Generator", then "HTML Sitemap". Configure parameters.
• Use the "Generate" function to create and save the HTML sitemap to your computer.

The final step: provide the HTML sitemap to your developer for integration into your website.

Conclusion: Benefits of HTML Sitemap

Although experts have varying opinions on the effectiveness of HTML sitemaps for site optimization, indexing, and user experience, the general consensus is that creating one is beneficial. Moreover, it helps mitigate negative consequences of poorly implemented internal linking.

Furthermore, most specialists consider an HTML sitemap essential for large websites with complex, branched structures, as it effectively conceals issues arising from suboptimal internal linking.