All About Google Sitemaps

I kept reading about these things, these Google Site Maps. I read a lot about them and still don't know if they are worth the time and effort, but I am expending the time and effort, so I figured that I ought to catalogue it.

• A complete discussion with extremely diverse opinions of the feature can be seen by clicking here.


• On Google's site: About Site Maps


• Using the Sitemap Generator

GOOGLE ACCOUNTS FOR HALF OF ALL U.S. SEARCHES IN APRIL, ACCORDING

Table 1: Search Share among Top 3 Search Providers, April 2006 (U.S.)
Search Provider Apr-05 Search Share Apr-06 Search Share Percentage Point Change
Google Search 47% 50% +3
Yahoo! Search 22% 22% 0
MSN Search 12% 11% -1
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, May 2006
The top two search engines showed robust growth over the past year. Google Search grew 34 percent
year over year, followed by Yahoo! Search with 27 percent growth. MSN Search rounded out the top
three, growing 10 percent year over year (see Table 2).
Table 2: Search Growth among Top 3 Search Providers, April 2006 (U.S.)
Search Provider Apr-05 Searches (000) Apr-06 Searches (000) YOY Search Growth
Google Search 1,986,795 2,655,649 34%
Yahoo! Search 919,894 1,169,109 27%
MSN Search 515,926 570,080 10%