Why You Need a Sitemap

Written by Nick Stamoulis

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In the context of SEO, a sitemap, also known as an “XML sitemap,” is invisible to anyone who uses the website. Its purpose is to signal to Google’s crawlers, which collects information from the website to produce search results. When the crawlers come across a website with a sitemap, they can access all of the website’s URLs in one place rather than crawling through each of its individual pages.

How a Sitemap Works

A manually-generated sitemap is written in XML code, a markup language that’s both human and machine-readable. The code utilizes tags and strings of characters that must follow a complicated set of rules to be read correctly. Fortunately, you don’t have to be knowledgeable in XML to build a sitemap. These days, some website-building platforms and SEO software offer sitemap building templates or generators.

Once the file has been generated, it must be added to the website’s backend, which then adds the sitemap to the actual website. From there, the sitemap organizes all of a website’s URLs and carries data about when and how often they were updated. They also tell Google’s crawlers which pages should be prioritized over others. This makes it easier for Google’s crawlers to index the site and ultimately determine its ranking in search results.

Sitemaps and SEO

Sitemaps are just one aspect of good SEO strategy. A website can contain dozens, hundreds, or thousands of individual URLs. Without a sitemap, Google may continue indexing non-essential URLs until its algorithm decides that the website’s data is no longer relevant. Then, the website would ultimately fall behind in its search engine ranking.

Building a sitemap eliminates this problem by showing Google which pages are essential or have been updated since the last crawl. Essentially, a sitemap is a roadmap that shows the sights rather than forcing crawlers to pull over at each and every stop. This allows Google’s crawlers to discover the most important pages in a shorter amount of time, process the content, and report back to Google that the information on the website is good for indexing. When Google has an easier time crawling and indexing a website, the website has an easier time ranking in search results.

How Important Is Having a Sitemap?

You don’t exactly need to have a sitemap to show up in Google’s search results. However, it may take several weeks, or your website might be buried under two pages of higher-ranking results without one. If a website is simple with a handful of well-organized pages, Google will likely be able to index it without needing a sitemap.

On the other hand, SEO can become more complicated if a website isn’t simple and straightforward. Large websites with archived content or a high number of pages can make it difficult for Google to crawl efficiently. In this case, including the sitemap will effectively push the most important pages to the front of the line. Websites that are new without much traffic or inbound links can also benefit from a sitemap, which helps with facilitating discoverability as well as indexing.

It Pays Off

Obviously, having a sitemap isn’t required when it comes to building your website. However, if you want to optimize your website for search ranking, then a sitemap can be a tremendous help. New websites are created every day, which floods search results and increases competition. For this reason, it’s important to stay on top of your SEO strategy. When it comes down to it, including a sitemap as part of your SEO approach produces results with virtually no downsides at all.

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How Brick Marketing Can Help Your B2B Company

Brick Marketing, is a Boston-based B2B digital marketing agency of B2B Digital Marketing strategists that solve your marketing challenges. We can help you find the best B2B marketing solutions for your company, such as: SEO management, content marketing, social media management, digital ad management (PPC), email newsletter marketing, website maintenance/web development and fractional CMO solutions.

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Brick Marketing has increased our website traffic by 315.43%

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Foundation Support Specialists

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Director – B2B Product Marketing, B2B.com

Delivered a 59% increase in our organic web traffic

Initially, when we sought out assistance in SEO, we felt the Brick Marketing search engine marketing offering may be too robust for the needs of our website. In hindsight, I am very glad that we decided their digital marketing services were worth the investment as they have proved to be an extremely valuable partner. Their tremendous expertise in b2b SEO practices and content strategy has already delivered a 59% increase in our organic web traffic. Brick Marketing has worked in close collaboration with our marketing team, tailoring their efforts to our specific needs as an FDA regulated company to ensure we are putting forward the highest quality content. I look forward to continuing our partnership with the Brick Marketing team to surpass our digital marketing goals!

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President, Roan Solutions

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Charles River Laboratories International

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President, Fishman Corporation

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We have worked with a few other SEO firms and consultants in the past, but, by far,
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Owner/Manager, Bennett Awards

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Marketing Manager, EMDAT

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Director of Marketing, enChoice

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Cofounder, AA Global Print

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We turned to Brick Marketing to assist in driving traffic to our website and we weren’t disappointed. The flexible approach of the digital marketing firm Brick Marketing helped us meet our goals, drive traffic to our website, and increase the number of calls we received regarding our services. Thank you!

Ken Burt

Marketing Manager, Affiliated Physicians

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I didn’t realize how much we were missing from not having an online presence until I started working with the digital marketing firm Brick Marketing. The Brick Marketing team took the time to guide us through the digital marketing process and helped bring our company into the online world. We’ve seen unbelievable success with our new website & owe much of our online lead generation to Brick Marketing’s efforts.

George Athanasiadis

CEO, Somerset Industries

Our goal for better presence on the internet has been achieved!

I had worked with at least three other digital marketing companies before I was introduced to Brick Marketing. But when I met Nick Stamoulis at Brick Marketing, I knew that I was working with an honest and reputable company that would guide me through the world of search engine marketing. In the six months since working with Brick Marketing, our goal for better presence on the internet has been achieved!

Peter Feinmann

Feinmann, Inc.

Brick Marketing has gotten me results

I have been working with Brick Marketing for over 4 years now. Brick Marketing sends me the reports every month, but I don’t need to read them.  I have worked with many other companies that made promises they could not keep. Brick Marketing has gotten me results and that is why I continue to work with them. I don’t have to micro-manage anything they do. I know that they always do what they say they are going to do. If you are looking for an website marketing company, I would say, look no further as you have found the one that will do the job right! In addition to doing an excellent job, Nick Stamoulis is a pleasure to work with.

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Corey Savage

CEO, Suncoast Identification Solutions, LLC

Highly recommend Brick Marketing to all of my clients

After working with many other website marketing firms and not being satisfied I finally was introduced to the Brick Marketing President and Founder, Nick Stamoulis. Nick Stamoulis has educated me about search and has provided me with a well rounded digital marketing package, not only does he offer top quality services he also educates his clients and spends the time to explain everything and their  pricing is competitive. I will highly recommend Brick Marketing to all of my clients. Brick Marketing is an A+ for web marketing.

Mike Cardella

Integrated Computer Services

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Ellen Parlee

Parlee Farms

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CEO, Pinpoint Laser Systems

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Archival Designs, Inc.

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President Freely Creative, Inc. / Websticker.com

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Connie Childrey

DataDirect Technologies/Progress Software

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Jodi Murphy

Director of Marketing, SportsSignup


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