Which is better: sitemap.xml or sitemap.html

[danielnash]

I'm confused about sitemap.xml or sitemap.html, please suggest me which is better?

[envigodigital]

This has been answered again and again
http://www.seomastering.com/seo-forum/on_site_optimization/html__xml_/20/

[seosemplanet]

Hello

I would like you to suggest go for sitemap.xml. Xml sitemap is search engine friendly whereas html.sitemap is user friendly.

[Selena Gomez]

Sitemap.xml will be the best for your wordpress site. If you are a beginner, do not get yourself confused since it is not good at the moment; after getting mastered, learning it is good and easy for you.

[mylofu]

Both are important - xml sitemap are created for search engine, it help search engines like Google, Bing to quickly index pages which you want to index. And Html sitemap for end-user, better readability for user. 

[pablohunt2812]

I personally feel like websites need both a  HTML and XML sitemap in order to clarify the website’s purpose and goal, avoiding duplicated data and to minimize the number of steps it takes to travel from one page to another. Additionally, a sitemap will communicate the website’s architecture and hierarchy.

HTML sitemaps are created and available for viewing by website visitors to help them navigate through a website. Usually, they are setup with a linear structure showing the hierarchy of the site from top level pages to lower level ones. They provide the user with a very easy to read outline of content, making their navigation to their desired content easier.

XML sitemaps are a little different from HTML sitemaps, because they are intended for search engines and spiders not website visitors. XML sitemaps can be visible with any web browser, but their main function is to provide the URLs of a website to search engines. They even show data on how often a page has been changed compared to other URLs on the same site. This information is very important for search engines because the more links they are provided with, the more a website will appear in search engine results.

A sitemap generator tool is the perfect way to create XML and HTML sitemaps with ease, and you can create multiple sitemaps if your website has more than 50k pages.

[RoyJones]

Site map or xml Sitemap Both are importent they are created for search engine, it help search engines like Google, Bing to quickly index pages which you want to index. And Html sitemap for end-user, better readability for user.

[RH-Calvin]

Both are equally important and servers different purposes. HTML sitemap is a plain text sitemap used by browsers to know and surf through your website pages. XML sitemap is a coded sitemap used to submit in webmaster tool to help spiders crawl them and index the webpages in search engines.

[tyagi]

XML sitemap helps Google while crawling the site, whereas HTML sitemaps are usually used to help the visitors to have a better and easier site experience.

In my opinion having a XML sitemap is great as it will help Google while crawling and indexing the site in to search engine but there is no technical use of HTML sitemap. If you think that your visitors need one, than go for it but otherwise having XML sitemap for a website is enough!

Thank you!

Hope this help~

[amitkedia]

With the help of sitemap, a site administrator has the ability to tell/feed search engines data on the pages of a site they want to be crawled as well as the priority or hierarchy of site content alongside information on when the page was last updated.

Types of Sitemap
XML Sitemap
1. Index Sitemap
2. URL Sitemap
* Sitemaps for Webpages
* Sitemaps for Images
* Sitemaps for videos
HTML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap is a document that helps Google and other major search engines better understand your website while crawling it. A sitemap is a list of pages on a website that is accessible to all users.
An HTML sitemap allows site visitors to easily navigate a website. It is a bulleted outline text version of the site navigation. The anchor text displayed in the outline is linked to the page it references.