Re: Are Site Maps still a "best practice"?

On Mar 5, 2010, at 1:27 PM, Nancy Frishberg wrote:

> I like this idea in theory, but recently found an example of one  
> where the sitemap attached to the 404 was not up-to-date.  Doubly  
> frustrating:  can't find the desired thing via ordinary means, so I  
> resort to the site map, and get frustrated all over again.
>
> If Steve's solution was indeed an automated sitemap, I'd second that  
> vote.

And this is where I think we're fixing the symptoms and not the core  
problem.

The question nobody asked here is, "Why is the user going to the site  
map in the first place?"

If users are visiting the site map, then it's usually because they  
can't find scent to the desired content through any other means.  
Either the link isn't findable or it's not clear to the user.

Fixing the site map (or the 404 error page) just fixes the symptom  
without addressing the underlying problem. In the short run, it  
produces a reasonable result. But, in the long run, it'll probably  
continue to fail.

(Genny did mention that she has pages that are only reachable by the  
site map. She correctly noted that this is a symptom of a bigger  
usability issue.)

If we took all the energy for producing and maintaining the site map  
(even automated ones, which aren't free to produce or maintain), and  
put it towards fixing the original problem, you'd get better results.

As for the search bots needing the site map, that's just a myth.  
Search bots need good links. If you solve the need for the site map by  
distributing the same links through the hierarchy of the site, the  
bots are just as happy (and, in fact, can't tell the difference).  
(Another fact: some bots think some site maps are link farms and  
decrease sites with them in the ranking algorithm, so moving away from  
site maps can improve your SEO results.)

Jared

Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845
e: [email protected] p: +1 978 327 5561
http://uie.com  Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks  Twitter: @jmspool
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