Scroll to the footer of many older websites and you'll find a small link labelled "Sitemap". Click it and you land on a plain page listing every section and page on the site. That's an HTML sitemap: a page written for people, as opposed to the XML sitemap file you submit to Google Search Console.
For years, HTML sitemaps were standard SEO advice. Today, many site owners wonder whether they still serve any purpose. Google's current sitemap documentation focuses on XML, RSS and text formats and doesn't mention HTML sitemaps at all. Yet large sites, government portals and big retailers still maintain them, and there are good reasons for that.
In this guide you'll learn the difference between HTML and XML sitemaps, when an HTML sitemap genuinely helps (and when it's wasted effort), how to build a useful one and the mistakes that make them pointless.
Key Takeaways
- An HTML sitemap is a regular web page of links for visitors; an XML sitemap is a file for search engines.
- Google's sitemap documentation doesn't require or mention HTML sitemaps, and they don't replace XML sitemaps.
- HTML sitemaps are most useful on large or deep sites where some pages are hard to reach through navigation.
- Because they use ordinary
<a href>links, they give crawlers another path to deep pages. - Small, well-linked sites can usually skip one and invest in better navigation instead.
HTML Sitemap vs XML Sitemap
Google defines a sitemap as a file that gives it information about the pages, videos and other files on your site. That's the XML (or RSS or text) sitemap. An HTML sitemap is something different: a visible page of links.
| HTML sitemap | XML sitemap | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary audience | Human visitors (and crawlers as a side effect) | Search engines |
| Format | Normal web page with links | Machine-readable file |
| Submitted to Search Console? | No | Yes (or referenced in robots.txt) |
| Typical contents | Main sections and important pages, grouped logically | All canonical, indexable URLs, optionally with last-modified dates |
| Size limits | Practical usability limits | 50MB uncompressed or 50,000 URLs per file, per Google |
| Passes internal link signals? | Yes, it contains real links | No, URLs are listed, not linked |
| Mentioned in Google's sitemap docs? | No | Yes |
If you haven't got an XML sitemap sorted, start there; our XML sitemaps guide covers setup. An HTML sitemap is a supplement, never a substitute.
Do You Still Need an HTML Sitemap?
Google's guidance on whether you need a sitemap at all is a useful lens. Its documentation says you might not need one if your site is small (about 500 pages or fewer) and comprehensively linked internally. The key phrase is the second condition:
“Your site is comprehensively linked internally.”
— Google Search Central, Learn about sitemaps
If every important page is reachable through your menus, category pages and in-content links, an HTML sitemap adds little for search engines. Where it earns its keep is on sites where that isn't true, or where visitors struggle to find things.
When an HTML sitemap helps
- Large sites with deep hierarchies. Thousands of category, location or product pages where some sit five or more clicks from the home page.
- Sites with JavaScript-heavy navigation. Google says it can generally only crawl links that are
<a>elements with anhref. A plain HTML sitemap gives crawlers a reliable path while the menu is being fixed. - Multi-location businesses. A "locations" directory that lists every branch page doubles as an HTML sitemap for local landing pages.
- Accessibility and usability. Some visitors prefer an overview page; public-sector sites often include one for this reason.
- Content-heavy publishers. Topic indexes or A–Z archives help readers browse and help crawlers reach older articles.
When you can skip it
- Small brochure sites where every page is in the main menu.
- Sites where the HTML sitemap would just duplicate the footer.
- Sites where nobody will maintain it, leaving a page full of broken links.
What to Include on an HTML Sitemap
An HTML sitemap shouldn't be a dump of every URL. It should be a curated, logical map of what matters. Semrush's roundup of sitemap examples shows how varied good ones can be, from simple bulleted lists to multi-column directories.
| Site type | Include | Leave out |
|---|---|---|
| Local service business | Services, service areas, about, contact, key guides | Tag archives, thank-you pages |
| Ecommerce store | Top-level and sub-categories, brand pages, help pages | Individual products (too many), filter URLs |
| Publisher or blog | Topic hubs, category archives, pillar guides | Every single post on large blogs, paginated archive pages |
| Multi-location brand | Country, region and city pages in a hierarchy | Duplicate or thin location pages |
| SaaS company | Product features, solutions, pricing, docs hubs, resources | Login, app and account URLs |
How to Create an HTML Sitemap: Step by Step
- Map your structure. List your main sections and their key child pages. Your site architecture plan is the starting point.
- Decide the depth. On large sites, link to category and hub pages rather than every leaf page. Split into several linked sitemap pages if needed.
- Use semantic markup. Headings for each section and nested
<ul>lists for pages. Our post on semantic HTML explains why real lists and headings matter. - Use descriptive anchor text. Google's link guidance asks for anchor text that is descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant. Use the page's real name, not "Page 1".
- Generate it automatically if you can. Most CMSs have plugins or template logic that build the page from your menu or taxonomy so it never goes stale.
- Exclude non-indexable URLs. Leave out redirected, noindexed or canonicalised pages.
- Link to it from the footer. One footer link is enough; see our notes on footer links.
- Keep it indexable and check it. Crawl the page periodically to catch broken links.
Common Mistakes
- Treating it as a replacement for an XML sitemap. Search Console needs the XML file.
- Using it to hide poor navigation. If important pages are only reachable through the HTML sitemap, fix the menus and internal links. Our guide to orphan pages shows how to find them.
- Listing thousands of links on one page. It becomes unusable for people. Split by section.
- Letting it rot. Hand-built sitemaps fill up with 404s after a few redesigns.
- Noindexing it by default. Some themes do this. It doesn't need to rank, but noindex doesn't help either; leave it as a normal page.
- Including blocked or private pages. Don't link to admin, staging or account areas.
Alternatives That Do the Same Job
If an HTML sitemap feels dated for your brand, you can get most of its benefits from other features that also help users:
- Breadcrumb navigation on every page.
- Hub or pillar pages that link to every article on a topic.
- A well-organised mega menu built from real links.
- Related-content modules that surface deeper pages; see our internal linking guide.
Whatever you choose, run a crawl to confirm nothing important is stranded. Our article on crawlability issues walks through that process, and if you're on a site builder, the platform guides for Wix SEO and Squarespace SEO cover how their built-in sitemaps behave.
{FAQ}Get Your Site Structure Right
An HTML sitemap is a small piece of a bigger question: can people and search engines easily reach every important page? If you'd like an expert review of your navigation, internal linking and sitemaps, our SEO team can help. Request a quote to get started.
References
- Learn about sitemaps – Google Search Central
- Build and submit a sitemap – Google Search Central
- Link best practices for Google
- SEO Starter Guide – Google Search Central
- 7 Sitemap Examples: XML, HTML, and Visual Sitemaps – Semrush
