One of the most neglected aspects of all on-page search engine optimization  is the integration and usage of XML site maps.

An XML site map allows a website to be better represented in the eyes of a search engine, and provides an automated file that resides on a server.

This file tells a search engine which webpages have been updated and outlines the full scope pages that should be included in their index.

Search engines, by nature, are trying to get the most up-to-date view of the web when they crawl the Internet. However, certain pages are not reachable from what’s called the “public” linked web. Pages that are stored in databases or stored behind Web forms etc are sometimes called the invisible web.

The site maps protocol, which was a uniform agreed-upon specification from Google, Yahoo, and MSN, allows webmasters to follow a certain agreed-upon file type to publish their websites within search engines and eliminate the problems that sometimes exist within the “invisible” web.

Search crawlers face two prominent challenges, both of which site maps solve.

One is the ability to get an accurate representation of new webpages, this is sometimes called “freshness”. Because users use search engines to find current events and information that is happening immediately, it is imperative that search engines have an index that includes webpages that were recently updated.

How can a webmaster help search crawlers discover all new and modified URLs of a website in a timely and efficient manner?  XML site maps are the way to solve this problem.

The XML file also provides information into when the webpages were last updated, how frequently the page changes, and the relative importance of the page as it relates to other pages in the site.

By using this sitemap protocol that’s agreed upon by the search engines it does not guarantee the inclusion of your pages in an index, but rather, provides them with clues and information to make sure web crawlers do a better job of assessing content on your website.

A great tool to help you in generating XML site maps is a website called XML-site maps.com. This site provides a very low-cost piece of software that allows you to crawl your own website and generate XML file, while providing instructions for you to place this file on your Web server.

Super Easy! To get this piece of software up and running on your site usually is a process that takes 10 minutes.

If you are looking to maximize SEO performance and do not have an XML sitemap, now is the time to create one.  Look for a video soon from Trinity discussing this topic in much greater detail.

It can’t be stressed enough how important  how important a site map is in the ability for product pages to get the right amount of penetration within organic search.

Tags: Multi-Channel, SEO