To get better ranking position in search engine, so many technical SEO factors play an important role. Sitemap is one of the factor which webmaster can not forget to complete.

So, first question arise in your mind is – What is sitemap?

As the name hints, it is just a chart or map of your site. It is a protocol or a file which enables webmasters to notify search engine regarding a URLs of your website which are accessible for crawling and indexing. The file includes all URLs of the website as well as details like when page was last updated, how frequetly it will change and priority of relation with other URLs of website. This will helps crawler to crawl website more smartly.

How many types of Sitemap?

Well, this is a good question for any beginner SEO. Two types of sitemap in search engine optimization activity.

  1. XML sitemap

This version is designed for search engine, not for users and you can submit this version into Google Webmaster Tool. This will helps search engine to crawling & indexing your web pages, quickly and easily.

  1. HTML sitemap

This version is designed for Users, where user can view all links of the site. This protocol enables users to understand the flow of site, so user can easily surf your site as per their requirements.

I want to explain this point with a supporting fact which Google suppport has mentioned in following link last point: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en

It has been stated as:

‘Note that use of a sitemap doesn’t guarantee you that all the web pages listed in your sitemap can be crawled or indexed as Google processes rely mainly on complex algorithms. In most cases, webmasters benefit from sitemap submission, and in no case can you be penalized for it.’

So the statement is self explanatory that the XML sitemap do support the website and its ranking.

When Sitemap is very essential?

In following situation, sitemap is much needed:

Some Limitation of Sitemap

File Types supported by XML sitemap