HTML Sitemaps Guide

Beyond Standard HTML/CSS Sitemaps

If you want to take your HTML/CSS sitemaps a step further, here is how to create visual sitemaps just by following these 4 steps in A1 Sitemap Generator:

1. Crawl your website in the sitemap generator tool. Wait till done.
2. Select the visual sitemap preset you want to use. This loads both sitemap template code and options.
3. After loading the preset, edit the sitemap template code to match your website. (Optional.)
4. Build, test and upload your new visual website sitemap.

Here is a screenshot showing the sitemap template load/save system:

Visual Sitemaps Supported in Sitemap Generator

While you can always edit the HTML/CSS template code and options yourself to create your own unique visual sitemap, built-in support is included for some visual sitemap types. (Including presets for more is planned.) These are:

• SlickMap

  

• CSSsitemap

  

At the ISV Company blog it has now been announced that a new version of Microsys sitemap generator tool has been released.

While the 2.3 version release is focused on improving filtering and sorting of URLs found during website crawls, its HTML sitemap tools have been continuously improved “behind-the-scenes” throughout the 2.x series.

If your website does not have a HTML sitemap, now is the time to create it. Then start experimenting using the HTML sitemap template system, so the finished sitemap looks exactly like your existing website layout

When designing a HTML sitemap for your website, whether manually or using a HTML sitemap generator program, you have to make it easy to use.

Indention in HTML Sitemaps
It can be helpful to have links indented in a tree style way that match underlying website structure. Makes it easier to understand and navigate the website.

• Directory A
  • Page A
  • Page B
• Directory B
  • Page C
  • Page D

Columns in HTML sitemaps
If you want to take full advantage of page width to lessen scrolling, it can be useful to create sitemaps that use 2 or 3 column layouts.

Have sitemap span multiple pages with large websites
If your website is very large and you start to have above 100-200 links on a sitemap page, you should consider splitting your sitemap across multiple pages. Even if your users can navigate the HTML sitemap, search engines such as Google and Yahoo may start ignore links if you have thousands on a single page.

Page and section titles in website sitemaps
If possible, make sure each linked item in your HTML sitemaps have descriptive anchor text. This helps people and search engines to understand your website.

Create your website sitemap now
If you are looking for a program to do all of above, try this sitemap generator.