How to Create an Effective Site Map for Your Web Site

As I struggle through a 527 line Excel spreadsheet that I need to coerce into a coherent site map, I decided to write up some of my thoughts on developing an effective site outline for a Web site.

In no particular order:

1. The home page doesn't get any sub-navigation. Don't ask me why, it just does. Move along, nothing to see here.
2. A site map's purpose is to tell you where pages exist within the structure of a Web site.
3. A site map's purpose isn't to list every element of each page, especially repeating items like "search box" or "email signup box." That goes somewhere else, like in an Information Architecture document or a checklist of "things it would suck to forget."
4. A place for everything and everything in its place. Think of the site map as a tree. If you have a page that doesn't connect to the rest of the site what you've got is a dead branch. The only pages you don't need in a site map is Not Found and Thank You (landing page for contact forms.)
5. "About" should be one of the last items, not right after "Home." Web sites for individuals may be the only exception to this rule, and even then not very often.
6. If you've got to the 5th level of navigation, you've gone too far. Carol Anne - listen to me. Do NOT go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don't even look at it.
7. Every line in the site map = one Web page. If you've got a Resources section that includes Links and FAQs, you still need content for the Resources overview page.

Any other suggestions?

Rich Brooks
Site Maps for Dummies

Comments

[Tyler Hayes]

Don't really have a suggestion, I'm more so just curious as to why you're creating a site map this way (if at all). Looking for compliance with Google Sitemaps? Why not XML?

How did you end up with a 527 line spreadsheet?

[Rich Brooks]

Tyler,

Not a site map for Google, but rather a plan that allows for better strategy during the development phase. Consider it an architectural drawing of the site.

I received a 527 line excel sheet from a client; that was there first attempt to create a site map!

[Busby SEO Challenge]

that was a informative subject..
i like post...
just keep ahead..go for gold

[Alan Tollefson]

I subscribed to this email because I thought it was informative information for Web Developers. Articles like this should not appear in this email, it should be in a beginners guide to web design. That was a waste of my time to read. Please, raise the bar a little.

[Rich Brooks]

Alan,

Judging by my experience working with a wide variety of businesses, I think this is something a lot of people struggle with, which is why I included it here.

Not every piece I write will be for advanced Web developers, and a lot of the content here is for the average business owner looking to build their online business.

And as a point of clarification, you didn't subscribe to an email, you subscribed to a blog. But an advanced Web developer like yourself already knew that, didn't you. ;-)

Addendum: Alan and I just had a few emails back and forth. He had received this post as an email from a different source, which probably shouldn't have included this post as an email! Turns out Alan's a good guy.

[Debbie Mahler]

Hey Rich, can you tell me why all the goofy Google site map creators I've purchased, downloaded for free, et al., will not create a site map for my sites? Inquiring minds want to know! Curious ones too! (GRIN)

Thanks!

[SEO Mumbai]

Actually, a lot of people do struggle with the site map issue. Ideally, the inner pages in your site should not be more than 3 clicks away(makes good SEO sense too). As a result, your site map will not look too cluttered.