What it is
A file listing every address on the site that search engines read. It tells them which pages exist and in which languages, so nothing gets missed.
How we use it
The sitemap is built automatically from the site content: a new case study, article or glossary term lands in it by itself. Product screenshots go in too, for image search.
Where it helps a business
- The site has many pages (services, products, cases), and search engines must not miss any.
- Pages have versions in other languages, and search engines need to know the pairs.
- New pages appear regularly, and nobody will update the list by hand.
How we use it
- From the content, not by hand. On the studio website sitemap.xml is built by code from the content collections, so a new case, article or term enters the sitemap by itself, in both languages at once. Product screenshots for image search are included too.
- Only what is visible. In the online store the sitemap is built on the fly from visible pages and products: a product taken off the storefront disappears from it.
- Always fresh. On Valery Afanasiev's business card the page, robots.txt and sitemap.xml are always revalidated with the server rather than served from cache.
Common problems
- A sitemap written once. Six months later it is missing half the pages and lists deleted ones.
- Extra entries. Service URLs, the admin panel and closed pages must not get in.
- Nobody submitted it. It has to be submitted once to the webmaster tools.
When you do not need it
For a one-page site a sitemap adds little, but it does no harm either, so we make one anyway.