Hi I am new to the forum so hello I know that Google recommend that you have 100 approx links on an html sitemap and any more that you create separate sitemaps. I have a very large website with many categories. Would you recommend setting up one site map for top level categories and then other sitemap for the lists within the categories? e.g Sitemap 1 Top Level Womans Clothes Mens Clothes Childrens Clothes So say a user clicks on 'Mens Clothes' they are taken to the second sitemap which lists all the links for mens clothes. Sitemap 2 Catergory Mens Clothes Mens Trousers Mens Shirts Men Ties If a user clicks on any of the links from Site Map 2 they are taken to the relevant WebPages e.g the Mens Trousers webpage Mens Shirts Webpage Mens Ties Webpage If I put everything on the one sitemap I would have about 700 links! And I would like to know how other people with large websites structured their HTML sitemaps.
I don't know where you read that google recommands a sitemap to have only 100 links. What is written in sitemap description on http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsd is indeed very diferent: Read also https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/protocol.html#faq_sitemap_size (you probably need to be logged). if your sitemap (it's far from being the case) is larger then 50000 items or 10mb, you will have to divide it and index it, read as follow: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/protocol.html#sitemapValidation
Hi Sorry I am talking about a HTML sitemap not a XML sitemap - which is the link you posted. As we have a large website I thought it would be both an advantage for both spider and visitors.
Your plan sounds wise Hilary. If you are willing to use the time to sort out your sitemap in that way, then it will be of great use to your human visitors as well. While A1SG can span HTML sitemaps over multiple pages, create columns etc. sorting and grouping all links manually sounds like a good idea in your case.