To sitemap or not to sitemap

Discussion in 'All Other Search Engines' started by Peter Iddon, Jul 29, 2009.

  1. #1
    I keep hearing different views on this subject, basically some people say you should always upload a sitemap to the likes of google, others saying don't bother it's better to let search engines find you themselves.

    Just wondered what you all thought and why? I already have sitemap of my two sites uploaded to google but wondering whether i should bother for bing.

    Any advice?:)
     
    Peter Iddon, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  2. Paidpergoogle

    Paidpergoogle Peon

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    #2
    I think it's a good thing. It really helps for search engines. But remember that you should update sitemap often. I forget to update my sites sitemap and google even decreases my pagerank for that. So you need to think about sitemap updating script or update it manually.
     
    Paidpergoogle, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  3. lifeplayer

    lifeplayer Notable Member

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    #3
    sitemap is good, it helps to get indexed fast
     
    lifeplayer, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  4. bbob

    bbob Peon

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    #4
    I have them on all sites and it works to have them
     
    bbob, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  5. Chuckun

    Chuckun Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Sitemaps are DEFINITELY worth having.

    Having a sitemap means google can simply visit a list of urls you give them (aka; the sitemap), if they exist, they can index them (if they want to), if they dont, they'll discard them..

    If you dont use sitemaps, google have to crawl your page and actually find each link and page.. whereas if you just give them a full list, it saves them time, and therefore IN THEORY; gets you indexed quicker..

    Jack
     
    Chuckun, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  6. hyekyo

    hyekyo Peon

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    #6
    It's good to have a sitemap. You can optimized web page keenly.
     
    hyekyo, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  7. jagged

    jagged Peon

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    #7
    For sure you need to do it.
     
    jagged, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  8. Professional Dude

    Professional Dude Prominent Member

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    #8
    Having a sitemap is a good idea, it can help search engine find your links and index them.
     
    Professional Dude, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  9. usapatriot

    usapatriot Peon

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    #9
    Generally having a sitemap can only help you and not hurt you.
     
    usapatriot, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  10. Ryan6

    Ryan6 Peon

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    #10
    On Blogger here, so I simply forward on the atom.xml.
     
    Ryan6, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  11. mrandrei

    mrandrei Peon

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    #11
    Sitemap is for structuring purposes. It is supposed to help your readers find the most essential categories in your site. On top of that, sitemap also helps your inner pages get crawled by SE robots. It's a must have to every site.
     
    mrandrei, Jul 29, 2009 IP
  12. Peter Iddon

    Peter Iddon Peon

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    #12
    Thanks Guys

    You have certainly helped me make my decision so i'm off to upload my sitemap to bing:D
     
    Peter Iddon, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  13. yonatan

    yonatan Banned

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    #13
    to site map of course
     
    yonatan, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  14. sundaybrew

    sundaybrew Numerati

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    #14
    Yes, you will want to use a sitemap. It helps the spiders save time and they will like you more,
     
    sundaybrew, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  15. maxmed

    maxmed Peon

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    #15
    you should have a sitemap ,it help with fast indexation
     
    maxmed, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  16. kdaly100

    kdaly100 Peon

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    #16
    The purpose of a sitemap is to help search engines to easily crawl your site.

    The sitemap tells them "Hey my pages are at these locations.. come crawl"

    Now if you don't have a sitemap it only means that there is less oil in the engine for the crawler to find your topics. Huh you say...

    Example - You have a page or blog post on lets say "Arthritic medicines that help Teenagers" (No I do not have site on this nor am I pushing the keywords).

    If it is a really popular topic with active keywords it might rank automatically but your best bet is to have a .html or a Title page with these words in it and then to submit your sitemap manually or use one of the automatic methods (like Google XML Sitemap for Wordpress).

    So sitemap should be part of your site and updated regularly.

    Oh yes and no need to have it as a link on your site that is 1990s style just have the XML and submit it.

    All the best

    Kieran
     
    kdaly100, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  17. Chuckun

    Chuckun Well-Known Member

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    #17
    I agree with the most of this except the last bit... Although there's no point putting the link to the XML on the site for google etc, it's still good for those other smaller search engines you don't know about ;) People still use them remember! Not many, but still some!
     
    Chuckun, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  18. zeekstern

    zeekstern Active Member

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    #18
    I used to think the same thing cause that is what all the so called big SEO experts tell you. But then you find out that all of a sudden your page rank drops becuause you forgot to update your sitemap or there was a problem with it. If google followed your sitemap it would not find the additional page you forgot to include:)

    Don't get me wrong. I am all for site maps and am very careful to keep them updated, now.;) But I also think that google will crawl your entire site anyway and getting indexed is based on them crawling your site, and not your sitemap.

    Just something to think about:)
     
    zeekstern, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  19. yesalbum

    yesalbum Member

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    #19
    Site map helps. However, make sure the links are accurate.
     
    yesalbum, Jul 30, 2009 IP
  20. Chuckun

    Chuckun Well-Known Member

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    #20
    Interesting thought, but sitemaps don't mean google doesnt manually crawl your site too... Don't forget that as long as there is a single link to your site on a webpage somewhere, if google's spider crawls that site, it will follow to your site and look over your site anyway (unless it's got the nofollow rel attribute assigned to it)...

    However, it is indeed very important to keep your sitemaps up-to-date!

    Jack
     
    Chuckun, Jul 30, 2009 IP