HTML VS. XML SITEMAPS FOR ECOMMERCE

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Ecommerce sites should use both XML and HTML sitemaps to improve page discovery, crawling, and indexing. XML sitemaps automatically list every URL intended for indexing, while HTML sitemaps provide users and search engines with links to important categories, subcategories, and site pages. HTML sitemaps can also strengthen internal linking and help reduce the number of pages that Google crawls but does not index. Neither replaces a well-organized site hierarchy or strong internal linking, but HTML sitemaps can serve as a temporary solution during site restructures.