What Makes A Better Sitemap: XML vs HTML

Over the past week, I have been setting up the clickTRUE sitemap. Managing the crawling and indexing of our new pages has been a challenge for me. Most of the SEO Blogs out there commonly discuss about the two types of  sitemaps that should be implemented – HTML versus XML.  Sitemaps have been a popular SEO weapon for crawling and indexing problems since Google Webmaster’s Tool accepted the said protocol in 2005.

Now, the differences between the two sitemaps:

XML sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling, visible only if you access a certain URL. They are targeted at the non-human visitor to your website.

HTML sitemaps are used by crawlers from all the search engines. This is the sitemap that would be used by your human visitors as it is actually visible within the website. Think of it as a road map or a guide to the content available.

Matt Cutts mentioned on his Webmaster’s Video that Google favors both HTML and XML sitemaps. They help the search engines in discovering pages on the website.

Using the HTML sitemaps can help users crawl the pages with deep linking access. HTML sitemaps also help users in navigating the website, especially if users cannot find what they are looking for. It can also serve as a directory of your website.
In my opinion if I were to choose between the two sitemaps, I would go for HTML sitemaps because it helps both the user and spiders.

But of course, both HTML and XML sitemaps should be implemented – taking a cue from the Singaporean nature of being “kiasu” (the compulsion to not lose out).