The larger and more complex your website is, the more difficult it can be for both users and search engines to navigate. But sitemaps make it easier.
All this means sitemaps are important. Because they can lead to:
- Better discoverability: An XML sitemap (more on this in the next section) helps search engines discover important pages on your website. This is particularly helpful for large websites that have thousands of pages and may be impacted by a limited crawl budget.
- Faster indexation: For newer websites, submitting an XML sitemap can lead to more pages ranking sooner. And for websites that update existing content, Google can discover those changes sooner when they’re included in the sitemap.
- Improved user experience: HTML sitemaps (more on this in the next section) can make it easier for users to find exactly what content they’re looking for. Because they’re able to see all your most important pages in one place.