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HTML Sitemap or XML Sitemap – Which is more valuable?

Google software engineer Matt Cutts answers a question from a SEO in India about whether it’s better to build a HTML sitemap or XML sitemap.

An HTML sitemap is basically a good old fashioned landing page that contains links to all the pages on your website. It’s very useful for users trying to locate specific information. Larger sites may require several HTML sitemap pages but for smaller sites, they are a perfect resource for visitors trying to figure out what’s on your site.

Check out SEO Advantage’s HTML sitemap here…as you can see, all of our important pages are linked from this page. A visitor looking for SEO services can go here and easily find what they’re looking for.

An XML sitemap can have several files but is only visible to search engine spiders.

So when asked which one to prioritize, Cutts says an HTML sitemap since it’s viewable by both site visitors and search engine spiders.

Remember, Cutts is a software engineer not a SEO professional but he is correct in his assessment of the workability of each type of sitemap.

Creating an XML sitemap is very easy once you create an HTML sitemap according to Rusty Brick at S.E. Roundtable. Therefore, he suggests making both so you can be sure all of your pages are properly indexed.

Watch the quick video to learn more.