It is common to differentiate between two versions of the sitemap: it exists in the XML format, and there are also HTML sitemaps. If you want to make the sitemap available to website visitors, you should make an HTML sitemap. This is essentially an additional document that is part of the website, and can be incorporated into the structure of its online presence just like any other HTML page. A sitemap that is created in the XML format, however, is primarily oriented toward search engines. XML is a markup language just like HTML, but the former boasts more functions.
This results in advantages and disadvantages of XML and HTML sitemaps. A navigation file in the HTML format can be used by visitors to the website without complications. Users can easily find their way around the site via the links when they are looking for something. In this way, the sitemap becomes akin to the search function and the navigation bar. The sitemap is thus an additional website component that increases user-friendliness. These days, the sitemap usually isn’t integrated as a frame. Instead, it is common to provide a link to the overview document, above the header or footer of the website, for example.
If you create a sitemap in the XML format, you have the option to submit it to the Google Search Console. This will allow the search engine to gain a better understanding of your entire website. XML also allows you to create a so-called video sitemap. It is difficult for Google and other search engines to read the content of video files, making the search engines dependent on additional data, called metadata. If you have incorporated videos into your site and would like Google to integrate them into its video search, you should provide a video sitemap.
This requires creating an XML file that supplies data about the individual clips on the site. The data includes the title and description of the video file, the URL of the subpage on which the clip is shown, a link to a thumbnail picture, and the storage location of the video player you used. The same strategy also applies to images, so that they show up in image searches.
As a webmaster, you luckily don’t even need to decide whether you would rather trust in an XML or HTML sitemap. Using both is possible; in fact, it provides the best results, for visitors to the website as well as for the web crawlers sent by Google and other search engines. Although the XML option is directly oriented toward the search engine, HTML sitemaps are also used in the web crawlers’ examination of the website as an easy way to take all pages into account.