What is Sitemap and difference between HTML and XML sitemap ?

With SEO becoming the most important factor in the popularity of the website and it's being positioned in the better ranking of the search engine results, it is important for the webmasters to get acquainted with all the diverse techniques of SEO.

Sitemaps are one of the most important tools of SEO as when the webmasters create a sitemap and submit it to the Google or any search engines; you allow them to crawl inside in your sitemap. However, the most common always get into the consideration of the webmasters is to which sitemap they should refer to HTML or XML.

Well, choosing the type of sitemap depends on the purpose of your site. However, understanding both of them would be of great help to you. Today, after taking this big confusion into consideration, we are throwing some light on both the sitemaps and their differences.

HTML sitemap is a well-known sitemap and is mostly used by the ones not associated with internet marketing. This sitemap is mainly used by the webmasters to help the visitors to know the structure and present a comprehensible display of the website. If you are on the website and are searching for some specific location or web page like "Contact us" or "about us", this is the area where HTML sitemap helps you out.

XML Sitemap is created especially to attract the web spiders or crawlers. This site helps the crawlers know the "behind the scene" activity of the web page. It is not just the URL, but the Metadata and the related information. It gives information from when was the last time the URL was updated to the average frequency of the changes and URL mainly in accordance with the site.

a) The basic difference between the sitemaps is the tags written in the code.

b) HTML sitemaps are linked to the official website whereas the XML sitemaps are not, but is present in the domain.

c) XML sitemaps help the search engine crawls in the website whereas the HTML sitemaps are meant to help the visitors find a specific web page.

d) HTML sitemaps are designed for the purpose of redirecting humans, and for the navigation purposes, it cannot get updated automatically and need manual update whereas XML sitemaps get updated automatically as it is designed for the search engines. This further helps in linking the new posts with the webmaster tools automatically.

e) HTML sitemaps help to improve the nature of the website and make it user-friendly. A user with the help of HTML sitemap can easily navigate the website, and if he is unable to find a webpage, he can easily use the HTML sitemap to trace that particular webpage. This particular feature of the HTML sitemap helps to improve the ranking of the webpage in SEO.

f) XML sitemaps, as designed for the search engine inform them if something new has been updated on your webpage. So, it is mandatory that you have an XML sitemap to attract the search engine to your website.

However, both of them are important for the website as XML attracts the crawlers and give them what they need and HTML helps to guide people in an effective way.