Outside of the site maps used during the design process, the term site map also refers to a web page that lists in a hierarchical manner the pages available on a website. Site maps have traditionally been created as navigation aids, akin to a book’s table of contents or categorized index. In addition to helping users navigate through a website, site maps can help search engines understand a website’s structure and catalog it more accurately.
Site maps over time
In the early days of the web, site maps were seen as a crucial secondary tool for navigating through websites, as the sites themselves often followed a clearly categorized outline format. Users were expected to turn to the site map if they couldn’t find what they were looking for or if they wanted the most complete and simple outline of what was on the site.
Over the years, however, the structure and type of websites on the Internet has changed dramatically, both through standardization (think wikis or template-based blogs) and through independence from traditional html (think sites made completely in Flash). In addition, many Web 2.0 / AJAX sites allow customization and present content through dynamic modules. As a result, it has become more difficult to represent sites accurately through sitemaps, and many sites have stopped presenting them as a means of navigation.
Improved search engines have also made it much easier for users to get to something that they can’t find through the primary navigation, and other forms of navigation such as through tags have shown themselves to be very useful for sites with highly variable content and much more flexible than site maps.
Current Benefits of Site Maps
Even though it can be difficult to make good site maps for dynamic content and there are now many alternatives for navigation, they still have their benefits. Some people will still get lost regardless of the main navigation you provide and the strength of your search engine. For such users, a site map might still prove valuable when they can’t find what they’re looking for, or if they want a quick overview of the whole website.
Site maps can also be very helpful for people with disabilities who use screen readers and other assistive technologies, though ideally your site should already adhere to accessibility standards wherever possible.
One of the main reasons to use site maps though, is for search engine optimization. Search engine spiders only follow links to a certain depth within a site and might have trouble cataloging dynamic content or very large sites. By submitting a site map to the search engines through Google Sitemaps or providing one on your site, you can help make your website easier for spiders to crawl through and in the end, easier to find.