Site Maps

Can anyone provide a few tips?

[Block19Row13]

We have a site map on our site.

unfortunatly it is dynamic and is provided by our e-commerce provider, and the links are tempromental (spelling!).

its got a PR of 4 and i would like it to work correctly.

ive been trying to read up on the net about how to build the perfect site map, but its quite tough as most of the SERPS show actual site maps and not theory.

does anyone here have any good tips for building a good site map.

e.g:
is it bad to have all links on 1 page?
do i need to create a series of pages with a set ammount of links?

thanks for your help, everything you guys have suggested for me so far has really helped and our SE results have never been better.

[troels nybo nielsen]

A fairly good rule of thumb is that you should not have more than 100 links on one page. If you have (much) more than that you should build a hierarchical structure of sitemaps. First an overall sitemap with links to each sector of your website, then a sitemap for each sector and perhaps subsectors etc.

And add a site search if you do not already have one. That will give your visitors an alternative way of navigating your site.

[Block19Row13]

Thanks, at the moment our "dynamic" site map has links to departments, sub departments and then each individual product, all on the smae page!

so this sounds bad.

do i really need to go as far as linking to each and every item?

to be honest i would rather drive people to my departments and sub departments so they can see our range, instead of one item

[troels nybo nielsen]

Your sitemaps do not need to link to every single page on your website to be of good use. In fact too elaborated a structure of sitemaps may confuse more than it helps. It's YOU who decide how deep down into details you will go with them.

[leadegroot]

I generally think that a site map is more for the bots than for people, so it doesn't matter if it is a little more complex than a person would like. (but not overkill!)
I build the sitemap such that it leads to as far down the heirarchy of the All Pages Tree (so to speak) as I can, and keep it within 100 links. If there are too many pages, then each subcategory that didn't fit needs its own sitemap.

[pendanticist]

When one does not have the time, nor the inclination to wade thru all the images and floating thises and thats, the site map is the first place I go. In fact, if I can't find the site map easily, I'm gone.

Xenu does provide a site map option that is modifiable.

As for a link back to 'home' on every page. Wouldn't publish any page without it. Been that way for nigh onto 7 years now and not a single known detrament. Lots of speculation on lotsa folks' parts, but nothing chiseled in stone.

Anyway, by definition, a map is just that. A map. Would you expect anywhereUSA / anywhereWorld to be eliminated from the current map structures in print?

[usm.maine.edu...]

[Craig_F]

does anyone here have any good tips for building a good site map

I agree with the previous posters, and here's a few more...

I generally create my sitemaps in outline format with a one line description next to each link, which will help put the link (and hopefully the page it links to) in context.

I suggest using proper html headings(<h1>, <h2>, etc.), lists (<ul> and <ol>), and using straight text links (<a href="page.htm">Link Text</a>) as appropriate to structure the doc.

Keep it simple, and don't forget to link to it from everywhere.