Get indexed by Search Engines - Free
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN encourage webmasters to submit their sitemaps in various format to ensure that all their pages are indexed by the search engine. Create an account in Google Webmaster Tools to upload your sitemap for Google, and add your site to Yahoo! Search Site Explorer to submit to Yahoo!
One easy way to create a free XML sitemap is at XML-Sitemaps.com. The free version indexes upto 500 pages and generates sitemaps in multiple formats (xml, text and HTML) but if you have a site where content is updated frequently, you could opt for the paid version which would automate the XML generation, and also submit it to Google and Yahoo! once the sitemap is updated.
I recently tried generating a sitemap for the Octopus Labs Blog, and it works fine.
Similarly, creating a sitemap on your own site also helps search engines index all pages on your site, apart from allowing visitors an alternative mens of navigation.
ROR (Resources of a Resource) is a rapidly growing independant XML format which generated sitemaps that can be read by all search engines, including Google. You can get a free ror sitemap for upto 1000 links here, or download the desktop version which will index upto 5,000 pages.
Filed under: SEO