How important is an XML sitemap for SEO?
Question 
GREAT class today; we learned so much and LOVE all of your fun analogies.
We're interested in dialing in our xml site map. So, of course, step one:
Our robots.txt needs some reference of our xml sitemap: http://~/robots.txt (We're going t
Answer: -
First and foremost, you must prioritize. FIX your TITLE tag, content, etc., and your inter-site links - home page, one click to landing pages, have a REGULAR HTML sitemap, etc. - so that you have strong keyword heavy pages and great SEO-friendly content, navigation etc. The HTML sitemap is *** MORE IMPORTANT *** than the XML sitemap, by far. So get that house in order.
Then, onto the XML sitemap, create one, keep it up-to-date and submit it ONCE to Google Webmaster tools and reference it in your robots.txt file. This is helpful but not at all critical. So many sites do it poorly that Google can't really rely on this.
As for your competitors, do this in reverse. Do they have an XML sitemap? Does it work properly (mildly important), but more important do they have STRONG SEO content - that is cross-linked, etc.? That's much MORE important. So don't put the cart before the horse, so to speak.
Hope this helps!
- Jason McDonald
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