Back in 2005, due to the ever-growing number of web pages needing to be indexed, and in an effort to speed up the indexing process, Google embraced the “XML Protocol”, a new technology usually referred to as Google Sitemap files.
A Sitemap file is a code placed in the root directory of your website which captures all the crucial information about your website, thus facilitating the crawling and indexing process for Google. In other terms, a Sitemap file communicates all the pertinent information about your website which is reviewed during the indexing procedure by
Google.
For those who prefer layman terms, a Google Sitemap file is like a code lodged in the "background" (source) of your site - it is not for users to see - it is only to be found by search engines, allowing them easier and faster access to your website's information.
As you might know, major search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN for example, are programmed to visit & index the content of every website on a regular basis. You might have heard about search engines “crawling” or “spidering” through the web.
Basically, each page of each website featured on the World Wide Web is archived regularly into a database and then reviewed for ranking eligibility. Although it represents a colossal amount of information to process and reprocess every month, up-to-date fresh data is the only way for major search engines to deliver quality search results to the users.
As it stands, in order to index your site, Google visits your home page and then crawls through each page by querying every link on your website...it is a relatively slow and tedious process.... However, by featuring a Google Sitemap file, Google has your entire website’s information right at its fingertips in a matter of nanoseconds!!
The Google Sitemap file protocol is so extremely efficient that it has also been embraced by Yahoo, as well. It is the first time in a very long time that the two main competitors in the world of search engines have joined their efforts and are using the same protocol to facilitate their indexing procedures.
This is why we recommend that you get a Google Sitemap file and a Yahoo Sitemap file as well!
Click here to read why Google publishes a page titled, "What is a Sitemap file, and why should I have one?”
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