How important are sitemaps in 2015?

[SEO Lady]

I came here to ask this question and got sidetracked responding to another thread.

The reason I ask is because a HTML built website uses that free sitemap generator service and it's not showing the correct tree in GWT so out of all of the pages on site there's only 1 that's been indexed.

How important do you attribute a sitemap these days?

The site is under 50 pages / posts

 

[fisicx]

Haven't used one in donkey's years. Let google wander through your website allocating importance to the page you have hinted are important (by internal linking etc).

 

[Codefixer]

How many pages are indexed in Google when you use the site: operator?
Are all the page there?

 

[Mystro]

You wont need a site map its just something else that can go wrong and screw up your rankings, it better to have no site map and like codefixer says above check how many of your pages are indexed naturally as if they are all pretty much there your site architecture is pretty sound if loads of pages are missing you could have a navigational issue,

 

[Codefixer]

If you do a site operator check and all the pages are there then Google can index them, and can navigate your site.

This isn't necessarily the same as having a correct site architecture that passes more authority and juice to important pages throughout the site.

 

[Steve Alphabet]

If Google is only indexing one page then I'd have a look in Webmaster Tools to see if there's a problem. Is your site parallax?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

if you need a sitemap, your site isn't google friendly.

If your site isn't google friendly, you are pushing water uphill with regard SEO

If only the homepage is indexed, have you checked for canonicalisation on www. and non www.?

Are the inner pages blocked using robots exclusion protocol at page level?

Is your internal navigation spiderable? if not then give up

 

[OliverN]

I wouldn't say that a sitemap is a bad thing at all, you don't need to promote it, but it does help Google & other search engines to index your website & also tells them how frequently they should visit your pages. Especially if you have a lot of them!

Google still provides facilities to submit a sitemap as aprt of Google Webmasters.

 

[fisicx]

...but it does help Google & other search engines to index your website...

And make a complete mess of your ranking unless you do it properly.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

The issue with a sitemap isn't the sitemap per-se, it is that people think it is just a list of URL's. People use a sitemap generator that will serve up to Google a page value that Google then uses.

I have seen the introduction of a sitemap hurt rankings too many times, I have seen the removal of a sitemap improve them.

There really is no need for a sitemap despite what Google themselves say.