Site Maps And Hypertext Links: "Food" For Search Engine Robots

Text links have a lot of value for optimal spidering, and site map has importance to help search engine robots reach website's deeper pages.

Search engine robots cannot click a button, submit a form, pull down a menu, or perform any other type of online ‘user interaction’ that might be used by a human visitor. They are able to index the text on a page and click through hypertext links. A navigational text link is added to web pages (often located at the bottom of the page) to enable the search engine robots with another means to click through the links of web pages when it cannot access these other types of navigation.

Search engine robots can't use a JavaScript menu. As robots' mobility on site is vital for the successful indexing of content, one wants to make it as easy as possible for the robots to visit all of the pages. Use of text links at the bottom of the pages, while hardly cutting-edge, is one of the best ways to make sure that the search engine robots can move around on your site. Links to the site's principal pages and a link to the site map page on all the pages in of the site should be included.

A supercharged version of the bottom-of-the-page hypertext links is said to be a site map. The site map provides ‘food’ for a hungry search engine robot. A site map page will at very least have links to all of the major pages on your site. Depending on the size of the site, it may actually link to all of the pages. This means that once the robot gets to the site map page, it can visit every page on the entire site. Having all the site content included in the search engine database is a good thing: One is more likely to come-up in the search engine results when somebody is performing a search related to your topic.

A site map should be added as it helps the visitors and search engine robots as follows:

1. Depending on the size of the site, it may have links to every page. It provides text links to at least the most important pages on the site.
2. Gives a short explanation of each site page, to inform visitors about the website.
3. Gives visitors the information needed when lost in the website, and shows how to reach the page they are looking for
4. Provides a pathway for the search engine robots to follow in order to reach the most important pages
5. Provides important keyword phrases in the site map text and hypertext links that help the automated search engine robot understand what the page is about
6. Helps search engine robots find static landing pages that then link to dynamically generated pages they may not otherwise find.

Site map can be made most attractive to the search engine robots and human visitors by including descriptive text along with the page URLs and links. Maximum use of keywords should be made in the text, including appropriate content for each of the pages to which you link.

When you make it easy for your visitors to navigate your site, they'll find what they are looking for. When you make it easy to search engine robots to move around on your site, you increase your chances of being favourably listed in their search results. This is possible only through hyperlinks and site maps and so, they are rightly said to be the food for Search engine robots.