What is a sitemap and do I need it for my website?
A sitemap is a file containing a list of all the pages on a website, along with their relationships to one another. It helps search engines crawl and understand the website's structure. Sitemaps can also provide essential information about each page, such as when it was last updated and how often it changes. Having a sitemap is especially important for larger websites or those with complex structures, making it easier for search engines to discover and index all the site's pages. According to Google, sitemaps are beneficial for new websites with few external links and websites with content that isn't well-linked. In any case, a sitemap can improve a website's SEO by providing valuable information to search engines and enhancing site navigation.
Static vs dynamic sitemaps
There are two main types of sitemaps: static and dynamic. A static sitemap is manually created, listing all the pages on a website. Typically created in XML format, this type of sitemap is submitted to search engines to help them discover and index all site pages. Conversely, a dynamic sitemap is automatically generated and updated by the website's server whenever a page is added or removed. This type of sitemap is useful for larger or more complex websites where manually tracking all pages is difficult. Although both sitemap types serve the same purpose, dynamic sitemaps are generally more efficient, as they eliminate the need for manual updates. For this reason, we'll add a dynamic sitemap to a Next.js website, which will automatically update when new pages are added, such as when publishing a new blog post.