On-Site Sitemaps - Guidance Required

[tdsnet]

Hi, I am looking to find good examples of on-site sitemaps.

We already submit our XML sitemap regularly through GWMT but I now wonder if we still need an on-site sitemap, as we have about 30 static pages and 300+ Wordpress blogs which in a sense makes that a spammy page as it has too many links and a higher than average keyword density.

The reason I am looking for good examples is that I want to create a basic on-site sitemap that aids navigation but is styled to look ok as well.

The Solution I have in mind:

mydomain.com/link-example-one.php
mydomain.com/link-example-two.php
mydomain.com/liink-example-ten.php

mydomain.com/blog then links to my 300 WP blogs, broken down into chunks navigated by using breadcrumbs.

Will Google crawl this ok or should I stick to the current format listing ALL posts on one page?

Thanks

[RyanKent]

A sitemap example I like is: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/sitemap.jsp. A specific element I like is it is not a map of every page on the site but rather a summarized view of the site which can help visitors navigate.

The links on your site map can be to category pages which then link to your content. That approach is solid.

If your site offers solid navigation then a HTML sitemap should not be necessary, but it is still recommended as it can help some users who may get lost. Google will crawl the sitemap like any other page on your site.

[tdsnet]

Thanks, I agree with your thoughts on this but with us we tend to chop and change inner pages and having a good sitemap helps us to make sure the navigation is solid. Or remember to include missing pages more to the point.

I like the example you provided, it does help from a user perspective to see the pages summarised from a branding perspective as much as seo.