Sitemaps !

[sapper]

Do sitemaps confuse you, are you unsure of what to do to construct one, well free help is at hand, this site will perform a scan of your forum, construct a sitemap for you, and wrap it all up in a downloadable .zip file, all you have to do then is open the .zip file and transfer the enclosed sitemap.xml file to your root directory using FTP, where all those lovely search engines like google and bing will be able to read it, this gem will even ping google and bing to tell them a new sitemap has been uploaded.

http://www.freesitemapgenerator.com

Unlike other generators there are no restrictions on the number of pages, or the number of time you use it, they even include an automatic uploader ($4.95 per month) so you don't even have to use FTP.

All they ask in return is an empty text file in the root, and or a link on the index page.

 

[Luke]

For Wordpress there's multiple plugins too which are free, something else to look out for 🙂

 

[sapper]

For Wordpress there's multiple plugins too which are free, something else to look out for 🙂

Yep the SEO for wordpress is brilliant

 

[Nebulous]

My forum is just a simple forum... How would a site map benefit me?

 

[Marc]

My forum is just a simple forum... How would a site map benefit me?

If you have a navigation where search engine bots can't crawl, then it might benefit you.

 

[sapper]

My forum is just a simple forum... How would a site map benefit me?

Try travelling across country on foot, with no map, satnav, or compass, you could do it, but it would take you a lot longer than if you had a map.

A sitemap works in much the same way,it provides bots with a list of pages to visit, Robots.txt tells it where not to go, so you only get the pages you want indexed, to be indexed.