The site map details how a website will be laid out, giving details of all the pages and how they will feature in the navigation. If you are going to have a website that you want to be informative, searchable and optimised, then the site map has to be right. It has to create the ideal user experience, so that people can find the information they are looking for without any effort.

When planning your site map, think carefully about the information that you want to be on your website. This can then be broken down into pages, so you can work out how the information will be presented. You can then also think about other pages that you might want to include, like an ‘about us’ page and the all-important homepage. Within your site map, lay out the URL structure so that you know how everything is going to be classified.