My site is in php. I want to create a html sitemap for my site. Do i need to create the sitemap in the PHP or HTML. ONe thing more i want to be very clear that i not talking about xml sitemap as that i have already created. Please suggest.
Your PHP code actually outputs HTML which is what crawlers and browsers see so no difference really... But check out this sitemaps article if still in doubt!
Hi, In my opinion, you are mixing two concepts. One is the site map allowing your visitors to understand better the hierarchy used to organize your site and help then to navigate. Usually this consist of a single file made in HTML, generated dynamically by a server language like PHP, ASP, JSP... or not that resides somewhere on your server, accessed by a link on your site. There is no specific rule to build a site map. The other is a Sitemap (with uppercase "S"). This consist of one or several XML files, that reside on the root of your server, and helps the Search Engine spiders to better crawl your site so that the URL you decide, will (sometimes not) be indexed by the search engine. This file is also to be uploaded into the webmaster area of the administration part of the Search Engine. To build this file you will need to follow strict rules. For more information about Sitemaps you can see http://www.sitemaps.org. If you want to build one, there are plenty of free wonderful solution over the internet. I have my own and I like to consider it quite helpful and complete. Take a look at http://www.webrickco.com/buildsitemap.php.
there are two types of site map one is for uers and one is for search engines, a search engine site map is xml for google and is not useable for users, it is upto you what site map you make, php, or html, but main thing is it should be clear for the users that they can easily understand your site's link
Thanks everyone, Some didn't read my question properly but few has given valuable information. I was only talking about the sitemap that is for user and that could be in php or html doesn't matter but should be neat and clean to help user find all the important page. That's it.
Of all the replies in this post the only one (as I would have expected) that has any truth to it is ThomasSchultz. Listen to this guy - he knows what he's talking about. And just to clarify, there is no such distinction between a s or S to determine which type of sitemap your talking about. Nor is a HTML sitemap strictly for users only. In actual fact if you want to help the spiders find pages on your site easier and faster use both HTML and XML.