What is a site map?

 

It is important to consider what a site map is and realise that even if a site map is written in the correct way, in the right language, it might not necessarily function efficiently as a sitemap. The component information within the map may prioritize an incorrect order. Just because a sitemap looks like a site map doesn't mean it is a sitemap. If we see something covered in feathers we call it a bird – what if the thing is covered in feathers, has no beak or wings, do we still call it a bird?

 

 Sitemap protocol allows a webmaster or site owner to inform search engines  about the pages on a website that are available for crawling. A Sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs contained on a site and contains additional information about each URL: when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site. This allows search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.

Once you have created an XML sitemap and have loaded it up to your site what do you do with it? Google recommends you to first submit your Sitemap using Google Webmaster Tools. This means you will be able to validate your site, claiming ownership or access rights to the site, informing them you are responsible for updating, managing or optimizing etc. This will ensure that your Sitemap details are in your Webmaster Tools. In addition to your Webmaster Tools, you can also submit (and resubmit) your Sitemap using the following methods:

• Sending a HTTP request to Google
• Including your Sitemap location in your robots.txt file


A similar process of validation also works for Yahoo and Bing. Sitemaps are a URL inclusion protocol and complement robots.txt, a URL exclusion protocol.

Drawing no2 and free weblistings

Peter Bright Drawing no2
Originally uploaded by Peter Bright

Search Engine listings are probably the cheapest way to generate website traffic, by-passing the need for a pay for clicks campaign. There are probably more web pages on the Internet than there are people in the world and page population is growing at a faster rate than the world's population. Even the greatest designed website, advertising the greatest products or services around will not be discovered if nobody knows it exists! It is written elsewhere that over 90% of all Internet traffic is generated by Search Engines. To say that it is imperative to get your site listed in Search Engines is an understatement, survival of your business relies on your website being found by potential customers when they start searching for products or services similar to yours.

To be effective, you must be able to find your web site based on keywords or search terms - which prospective clients may enter into a search box on a Search Engine when looking for your product or service. It is vital Search Engines direct traffic to your website’s content.

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About the image above: Exhibition June 2010 of new paintings and old drawings at Broomhill Art Hotel, Nr. Barnstaple, North Devon.

Peter Bright presents
'Topiary for Beginners'.

Creating images is balancing on the knife edge that teeters between success and failure. A brushstroke out of place is like cutting the beak off a privet peacock, it takes time for it to grow back and reshape. It takes time to get a web site into a search engine.