As an SEO manager, I’m often asked whether websites should use an HTML sitemap vs. XML sitemap. My answer is always the same – use both!
In this post, Ray Day, SEO Strategist, will explain the key differences between an HTML sitemap vs. XML sitemap, when to use each, and strategies to leverage both for better website performance.
What You’ll Learn
- What is a Sitemap?
- Understanding HTML Sitemaps
- Exploring XML Sitemaps
- Comparing HTML and XML Sitemaps
- Pros and Cons
- Choosing the Right Sitemaps For Your Company
- FAQs About HTML vs XML Sitemap
What is a Sitemap?
A sitemap is a page on a website that shows the structure and organization of the site content. It acts as a table of contents for the website by listing all the available pages and categories on a single page.
The main purpose of a sitemap is to improve user experience and SEO. It allows users and search engine crawlers to easily discover all the content on a website.
Another important reason to have an SEO sitemap is to help index multimedia content like images and videos, supplementing the text content on your site.
Using an HTML sitemap has some key benefits:
- Improves navigation for users by providing a central location to access all pages.
- Helps users find information they’re looking for faster.
- Allows search engines to crawl and index the website pages more efficiently.
- Boosts internal linking structure which is good for SEO.
There are two main types of sitemaps – HTML sitemaps and XML sitemaps. HTML sitemaps are designed for users while XML sitemaps are more for search engine bots.
Our Expert’s Insights on Sitemaps and Recommendations
I use both HTML and XML sitemaps for every website I work with. In my experience, implementing both sitemap types provides the maximum SEO and user experience benefits.
HTML sitemaps make it easier for users to navigate your site architecture and find the pages they need quickly. The visual layout is more scannable for humans compared to the raw XML format. On the other hand, XML sitemaps are machine-readable and specifically optimized for search engine crawlers. Submitting an XML sitemap helps search engines index your important pages more efficiently.
While HTML sitemaps provide user experience benefits, XML sitemaps are critical for SEO. I tend to prioritize XML sitemaps for the websites I optimize, then supplement them with HTML sitemaps to complete the user experience. However, having both sitemap types in place is the ideal scenario.
Understanding HTML Sitemaps
HTML sitemaps are a user-friendly way to display the pages of a website in an easily browsable format. It allows users to get a bird’s-eye view of all available pages and quickly navigate to the content they want.
Unlike XML sitemaps which are meant for search engines, HTML sitemaps are designed for website visitors.
Some key benefits of HTML sitemaps for user experience include:
- Improved Website Navigation: Users can easily scan a sitemap to find pages they want to visit. This is especially helpful on large, complex websites.
- Enhanced Accessibility: HTML sitemaps provide an overview of site content for users who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies.
- Mobile-Friendly: HTML sitemaps are easy to navigate on small screens like phones and tablets. The simple layout works well on mobile.
- Increased User Confidence: Sitemaps reassure users that the website is well-organized and help them feel confident exploring it.
- Reduced Bounce Rate: By making navigation easier, HTML sitemaps encourage users to explore more pages on the site rather than leaving quickly.
Here are a few examples of how HTML sitemaps can be implemented:
- A dedicated HTML sitemap page showing hierarchical listings of site sections and pages.
- A sitemap is linked in the footer or navigation menu for easy access from any page.
- A simplified sitemap bin to existing menus or site architecture.
- A responsive sitemap optimized for mobile and adapting to different screen sizes.
Exploring XML Sitemaps
An XML Sitemap provides information about the pages, videos, and other files on a website or web application to search engine web crawlers. The primary purpose of an XML Sitemap is to improve the crawl efficiency of search engines so they can better index a website and understand the relationship between pages.
Google and other major search engines strongly recommend website owners include an XML Sitemap that lists all publicly available pages on the site.
In fact, sitemaps with XML for SEO are extremely essential, as they can mean the difference between easy and even impossible indexing.
Some important benefits of using an XML Sitemap include:
- Helps search engines crawl your site more efficiently by providing a roadmap of all available content. This allows the crawlers to index your pages faster.
- Allows you to control the priority given to pages so most important or time-sensitive pages can be crawled first.
- Provides details on when pages were last updated so search engines can determine the freshness of content.
- Helps validate that your site has been properly indexed and that search engines are aware of all relevant pages.
- Allows you to restrict certain pages or content as private so search engines will not index them.
- Promotes better rankings and more traffic by improving the way your site content is indexed.
A basic XML Sitemap can be created manually as an XML file and uploaded to your root directory. But for larger sites, it’s best to use a plugin or built-in functionality of a CMS platform like WordPress to dynamically generate a sitemap.
The XML Sitemap should include URLs for all important pages of your website, along with details like the last modified date, update frequency, and priority. It will look something like this:
This provides key information to search engines about the page. Many platforms make it simple to create and update XML Sitemaps automatically whenever content changes.
XML Sitemap Best Practices
To get the most from your sitemap for SEO and general functionality, here are some XML sitemap best practices to implement:
- Regular updates that reflect new or changed content, which can indicate to search engine bots to crawl the site again
- The use of metadata, including dynamic <lastmod> timestamps or a sitemap update frequency that signal to search engines to re-crawl a site
- Submission to search engines through Google Search Console or other platforms for faster indexing and refreshed rankings
- Exclusion of non-essential web pages to keep the sitemap relevant and efficient for crawlers, such as pages with a “noindex” tag, paginated URLs, or any pages that disallow robots.txt
These effective sitemap best practices could significantly improve the efficiency of your sitemaps’ SEO, whether developing new pages or modifying existing ones.
When to Use XML Versus HTML
HTML and XML sitemaps serve different purposes and have distinct formats, advantages, and disadvantages. Understanding the key differences helps website owners determine the right sitemap approach.
Before getting into HTML versus XML sitemaps, it’s important to keep in mind that the main difference between XML and HTML sitemaps is one’s necessity over the other. While user-centric designs used to favor an HTML sitemap, XML SEO is more crucial for facilitating search engine crawling and meeting the needs of today’s more complex website navigation.
Let’s look a little deeper into some of the specific differences between XML and HTML sitemaps and which sitemap is best for SEO vs. user experience.
Format
- HTML sitemaps are designed for human visitors and are coded using HTML markup. They display as webpages with clickable links.
- XML sitemaps are designed for search engines and use XML markup. They serve as machine-readable files that search bots can crawl.
Purpose
- HTML sitemaps help human visitors navigate a website by providing links to key pages.
- XML sitemaps help search engines index a website by providing a list of URLs to crawl.
Usage
- HTML sitemaps are accessed by visitors clicking a sitemap link, usually in the footer.
- XML sitemaps are submitted to search engines for crawling and not seen by visitors.
Sitemap Update Frequency
- A sitemap with HTML is solely for serving people who visit your website and will only reflect update frequency with manual edits while having little effect on crawlability.
- XML sitemaps, meanwhile, can use certain code to update automatically with a certain frequency, indicating to Google and other search engine crawlers when it’s due for a re-crawl, which this type of sitemap specifically facilitates.
Pros and Cons
In this section, we will dive deep into the world of sitemaps, dissecting the pros and cons of HTML vs. XML sitemaps. This will provide valuable insights into their effectiveness, potential impact on your SEO strategy, and the overall user experience on your site.
HTML Sitemaps
Pros:
- Improve user experience and site navigation
- Require only basic HTML skills
Cons:
- Don’t directly assist with SEO and search indexing
XML Sitemaps
Pros:
- Optimize search indexing by guiding crawlers
- Automated creation and updates with CMS plugins
Cons:
- Purely for machines and not visible to visitors
- Require XML knowledge to build manually
So in summary, HTML sitemaps cater to human visitors while XML sitemaps serve search engine bots. Using both provides the full range of user experience and SEO benefits.
Choosing the Right Sitemap Format for Your Website
Deciding between HTML and XML sitemaps depends on the needs and capabilities of your website. Here are some factors to consider when selecting the right sitemap format:
- Site size and structure – Large, complex sites with thousands of pages benefit more from XML sitemaps, while compact sites can easily maintain HTML sitemaps. However, small blogs and other sites might not need HTML for help with user navigation and prioritize XML for sitemaps. On the other hand, large dynamic ecommerce sites could benefit from using both sitemaps for SEO and navigability.
- Ability to automate sitemap generation – Websites using CMS platforms like WordPress can leverage plugins to auto-generate XML sitemaps. HTML sitemaps require more manual updating.
- Search engine visibility – XML sitemaps help search engines index new content faster. HTML sitemaps improve navigation for users.
- Development resources – HTML sitemaps are simpler to hand-code. XML generation requires technical expertise.
- Frequency of content updates – Websites with daily content changes should prioritize XML sitemaps that can be programmatically updated.
Here are some best practices to maximize the benefits of your selected sitemap format:
- Submit your XML sitemap to Google Search Console to improve indexing.
- Place HTML sitemap links in the footer navigation for easy user access.
- When feasible, implement both HTML and XML sitemaps to combine user experience and SEO advantages.
- If limited to one sitemap, prioritize XML for search visibility. But strive for both when possible.
- Update sitemaps frequently as new content gets added to your website.
- Follow proper markup practices for clean, valid sitemap code.
The key takeaway is that most websites benefit from having both HTML and XML sitemaps. The XML sitemap should be the priority for SEO. But HTML sitemaps also improve user experience. Utilizing both formats provides the full combined advantages.
Best Sitemap Builder Tools
With a better understanding of XML versus HTML sitemaps and when to use each, you’ll want to use a reliable builder to help you put your sitemap together.
The following are some of the best sitemap builder solutions for various formats:
Yoast SEO
The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress makes it easy to automate XML sitemap generation while also providing you with convenient and comprehensive SEO tools.
In addition to helping you craft an SEO-friendly XML sitemap as one of the best WordPress XML sitemap generators, Yoast SEO can help gauge the overall health of your site’s SEO, including links, keyword inclusions, metadata, images, and more.
XML Sitemap Generator for Google
Another of WordPress’s best XML sitemap generators is the XML Sitemap Generator for Google WordPress plugin.
This tool is entirely free and works not just for XML sitemaps but also HTML, RSS, news, page, image, and video sitemaps. It offers full support for custom post types and taxonomies for maximum convenience, and it’s one of the most established plugins with over a decade of support.
WordPress XML Sitemap Generators
This All in One SEO pack is also among WordPress’s best XML sitemap generator tools. It’s a highly versatile plugin that, like Yoast SEO, offers multiple SEO tools in addition to an automated sitemap generator.
It works in a few clicks and allows for easy customization without any need for code.
FAQs About HTML vs XML Sitemap
1. What are the benefits of a sitemap?
A sitemap provides many benefits for both users and search engines. It allows users to easily navigate a website by providing a visual guide to the site structure and content. Sitemaps also help search engines crawl and index a website more efficiently by providing a list of all the pages on a site. Key benefits include improved navigation, better SEO, and faster website crawling.
2. Are sitemaps still relevant in 2024?
Yes, sitemaps remain a relevant and recommended tool for SEO in 2024. They help search engines understand the structure of a website and can improve indexing of new content. As websites grow over time, sitemaps become even more useful for keeping search engines up to date.
3. Can I have both HTML and XML sitemaps on my website?
Absolutely. Using both HTML and XML sitemaps is considered a best practice. The HTML sitemap mainly benefits users, while the XML sitemap is optimized for search engines. Having both ensures your website is user-friendly and SEO-friendly.
4. Which sitemap format is better for SEO purposes?
For SEO, XML sitemaps are considered more important and should be prioritized if you can only implement one sitemap type. XML sitemaps can be submitted directly to Google and other search engines, helping them efficiently crawl a site.
5. Do HTML sitemaps improve user experience more than XML sitemaps?
Yes, HTML sitemaps are better optimized for enhancing user experience. They allow website visitors to easily navigate pages through a linked, visual format. XML sitemaps are designed for behind-the-scenes SEO.
6. How often should I update my sitemap files?
Sitemaps should be updated frequently, ideally each time a new page or URL is added to your website. This ensures search engines have an up-to-date reference for crawling and indexing new content in a timely manner.
7. Are there any limitations to the size or structure of HTML and XML sitemaps?
There are some technical size limits, but most websites will not reach them. For very large XML sitemaps, they can be split into multiple smaller sitemap files along with a “sitemap index” file. HTML sitemaps have fewer structural limitations and can adapt to any site navigation design.
8. How often does Google crawl sitemaps?
So, how often does Google crawl sitemaps, exactly? The short answer is “regularly,” but different factors can change this frequency from days to weeks. Ultimately, the easier your site is to crawl and the more SEO-friendly your sitemap, the more efficient the crawling process.
9. How does crawl budget relate to sitemaps?
When assessing HTML versus XML sitemaps, one consideration is the crawl budget, which is the time and resources search engines devote to crawling websites. The simpler your sitemap format, the less crawl budget your site will take up, which can shorten the amount of time it takes to index and rank it. A generally clean website with organized layouts and a lack of clutter will further help maximize crawl budget.
10. How do you create sitemaps for multilingual websites?
Many of the best sitemap builder tools can help you create sitemaps for multilingual websites. Each sitemap will have a different language annotation.
11. Can sitemaps integrate with other SEO tools?
Yes, many sitemap generator tools also offer other SEO capabilities. For example, Yoast SEO and the WordPress SEO plugin XML Sitemap Generator for Google can help you optimize all of your SEO to help with comprehensive optimization across your entire website.
Contact Ignite Visibility For Advice on Sitemap SEO
Along with being a premiere search engine optimization agency, Ignite Visibility has extensive expertise with sitemaps and web development, having helped countless businesses implement and optimize both HTML and XML sitemaps.
Some ways we’ve helped clients with sitemaps include:
- Auditing existing sitemaps and identifying issues or gaps
- Creating new sitemap files from scratch
- Updating or replacing outdated sitemaps using the latest best practices
- Combining sitemaps with other technical SEO strategies for maximum impact
- Ongoing sitemap maintenance and management services
- Sitemap integration with CMS platforms
- Monthly sitemap performance reporting to track impact
Ready to get started with an optimized sitemap strategy? Reach out today to learn how Ignite can help.
