You can't imagine taking a long road trip without a map. Why build a Web site without one?
Site maps are a simple visual representation of your site's content. Think of it as a book's table of contents. But instead of listing chapters, indexes, and bibliographies, a site map can offer a birds-eye view of your site, with links to your "About" page, products, terms and conditions, and blog. (There’s a second type of site map, but more on that in a minute.)
There are no reliable surveys on the number of small-business Web sites with site maps, but that doesn’t mean the topic isn't subject to debate. In fact, there's been some discussion in the Web design community about the value of site maps, especially as they relate to search engine marketing.
Bottom line? You might not need a site map if the following is true:
- Your Web site is small, meaning fewer than five pages.
- Readers are finding what they need without the map. (You’ll know they’re lost if you get regular e-mails or calls asking for the location of a particular page.)
Why should you skip the site map if readers already know how to find something? Because search engines could index the site map instead of the page you want everyone to visit—creating a problem instead of solving one.
But if neither of those applies to your site, here are three reasons why a site map is a good idea.
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