Mechanical spiders have to eat. Actually they usually have bigger appetites than the real-life spiders you might accidentally see in the garden. But unlike with the real spiders that you squish under your shoe, you have to be as hospitable as possible with their electronic kind
So, what are those mysterious spiders? The automated programs sent out by search engines to review and index websites. These "spiders" (sometimes called "bots") are looking for a reason to list your site within the database of their particular search engine. It's hard work roaming around the 'Net non-stop, so these little "insects" need some nourishment from time-to-time. In fact, when spiders find some hearty "spider food" (a.k.a. a site map with some meat to it), they sit down to stay a while. And that's a good thing for your search engine position!
Site maps are deemed "spider food" because they can be the perfect place for search engine spiders and bots to crawl your site. Because a site map has links to every page of your site (and those link names or page descriptions often include keywords), it is extremely easy for the search engine spider to access each publicly accessible area with no obstacles and relate it to a given subject matter. (For example, a page labeled "microwave ovens" is most likely about microwave ovens.)
You must have seen a lot of site maps. The standard ones look like the example below with each phrase being linked to the page of the same (or similar) name.
=====================
Home
About Us
Shipping Rates
Products
>> Small Appliances
------- Microwave Ovens
------- Can Openers
>> Dinnerware
------- Platters
------- Serving Bowls
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
=====================
Some site owners stop right there thinking that's enough.
Indeed, a site maps carries a lot of other advantages:
- having links in the body copy of the page
- overcoming complex navigation such as DHTML or Java
- lending quick access to pages located several layers deep within the site
- assisting with usability for visitors (especially disabled visitors)
Many share the deception that a page with keyword-rich titles and links is plenty for a hungry little spider to munch on. Not hardly! In fact, it's not a meal but just a light snack.
Give Spiders A Tasty Treat
If you really want to fill the spiders' bellies, you'll want to take your site map page to the max with a descriptive site map (as I like to call them). Descriptive site maps go beyond the simple list of links to pages. These special versions of the traditional maps also include a short, keyword-rich description of each page. The text only needs to be a sentence or two in length. An example is below.
=====================
HOME - Home page for XYZ Depot, a home accessories outlet.
ABOUT US - Account of how XYZ Depot became the world's largest
home accessories outlet.
SHIPPING RATES - Shipping rates and delivery times.
PRODUCTS - Complete listing of home accessories offered.
>> SMALL APPLIANCES - Exciting selection of small appliances to
save you time in the kitchen.
------- MICROWAVE OVENS - Top-of-the-line microwave ovens from
brands you trust.
=====================
This is certainly not the only way to layout or design your site map. Get creative and use columns, bullets or other formatting to make it look the way you like. (The links would remain the same as in the previous example.)
Descriptive site maps work well in attracting and satisfying spiders because they include naturally occurring keywords. They also place keywords in the vicinity of a link that points to the associated page.
Add these advantages to those that already exist and you have prepared a huge feast for the search engine spiders that is almost guaranteed to entice those hungry little critters to crawl through every available page of your site.
Does every site need a site map? It certainly wouldn't hurt. Sites with less than 20 pages or sites where most or all the pages have links directly from the home page generally don't "need" a site map, per se. However, practically every site of every size can reap benefits from including a map on their site.
If you're creating a site map for your site, don't stop with the basics. With just a little added effort, you'll have a four-course meal to serve the spiders that will keep them happy and satisfied and that will help get you exceptional rankings.
Related Articles
- Search Engine Friendly Site MapsIf a page or link is several clicks away ( a visitor have to go through several web pages) then there is a possibility that the search engine spider will have trouble indexing it. Your search engine will show you the error that the page is not found.
- How Can My Design Affect My Search Engine Rankings?Directory editors will actually review your site and be critical of issues that you might not be. Spiders must easily be able to navigate through your site to be able to index all of your pages...
- 5 Things to Consider in Website DesignIf you think that its practically easy to do website design, then youre probably wrong. The process actually requires more than perfect combination of colors, use of animation and Flash, as well as perfect structures of every web page.
- What is a site map and why do you need it? (Exclusive Tutorial)Navigational direction never hurt anyone. In fact, knowing where you are going is half the battle of getting there. So why not create a map for your site visitors?
- New SEO Term SpibalanceI been doing SEO for a very long time now so I thought of helping webmasters with a very common issue. The problem is that most webmasters see their site jumping in and out of the indexed. Today you check and your website is in the index.
- Role Of Spider SEONO I am not talking about the eight-legged hairy creatures of nightmares. These spiders are electronic, used by search engines, and if you ignore them they give you nightmares that will haunt you every waking moment
- Role Of Spider in SEOSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about common sense; it doesnt necessitate specific knowledge of algorithms, programming and classifications. All it requires is a basic understanding of how search engines spiders work. Taking care of the search engine spiders likes and dislikes can prove to....
- Design A Spider Friendly SiteTo be successful in the search engines its important to design your web site with the spiders in mind. Using the latest in web page design is not generally the best way to go. Spiders dont view web pages like humans do, they must read the HTML in the page to see what its about...
- Navigation TricksThis is the a method that we prefer to use, typically we will use this on all of our pages in one form or another. I feel that it is superior to image maps and JAVA for a few reasons: Low maintainence. Everybody pretty much can figure out what they mean. By using the ALT description- it works ...
- Search Engine Optimization: What Every Company Needs To KnowInternet search engines exist to organize the overwhelming amount of information available on the web.