A HTML site map is a list of links to all the accessible pages within your site. In the past, before XML sitemaps, HTML site maps were used to provide a map of the pages contained within the site to the search engine. Today, most of the major search engines; MSN, Yahoo! and Google and their affiliates have all moved on to using other forms of site maps, such as XML, which are normally tailored specifically for that search engine. This being said, HTML site maps still have their place within todays market place, and still give you weight within the SERP’s pages. Their purpose is two fold; firstly some of the small search engines still use HTML site maps as part of their indexing process, although these search engines won’t bring you a large quantity of traffic, they will bring enough to justify the building of a HTML site map. The second reason for a site map is that it allows human visitors to easily navigate your site. This is a useability issue and allows advanced users use a site map to locate pages within a large site. Because of this, the major 3 search engines will give weight to your site in the SERP’s, because you are catering for your users and at the end of the day that is what the search engines really want to rank you on. A HTML sitemap link should be on everyone of your pages within the website, with a few exceptions. At a stretch you can also use your HTML instead of an XML site map for the big three search engines, although I recommend having both.

To summarise, HTML site maps still have a place within todays market and shouldn’t be overlooked by a developer or SEO, even if they take some time to create them. The benefits are there from both a usability and a ranking point of view.

Related posts:

1. Site HTML Structure
2. The Benefits of HTML Sitemaps
3. Why poor site navigation can harm your site?
4. Differences Between XML & HTML SiteMaps
5. XML Sitemaps