You’re looking for information on a website. You browse the main menu, click through two or three sections, and end up going in circles. The content is there, but the path to it is unclear. That’s exactly the problem a well-designed site map solves: it displays the entire site structure on a single page, like a book’s table of contents.
Test the entire journey, not just the page
Most guides to navigation focus on menu structure or layout. They overlook one practical point: a page can be perfectly built and still be impossible to find if something along the way gets in the way.
Accessibility audit findings confirm this. Journeys fail even when individual pages are compliant, because a dropdown menu, modal, or checkout flow blocks keyboard navigation. Testing complete journeys from the site map to the intended action gives you a more reliable picture than checking each page in isolation.
In practice, this means opening the site map, choosing a link to a deep page (a product page, contact form, or archived article), then checking that you can complete the journey without a mouse, using only a keyboard or screen reader.
If the journey breaks halfway through, the site map loses its purpose. You can see this principle in action on the Les Marches du Pouvoir site map, which lists its sections in a linear format and lets you go straight to any content.
HTML site map and XML sitemap: two tools for two audiences
Have you ever seen a sitemap.xml file? It’s a list of URLs intended for search engines. Google, Bing, and their crawlers use it to discover and index pages. Human visitors, on the other hand, never use it.
An HTML site map is the opposite. It’s a visible page designed for people browsing the site. It presents sections, subsections, and pages in a logical order, with clickable links.
The HTML site map serves visitors; the XML sitemap serves crawlers. Confusing the two is like giving a phone directory to someone looking for a neighborhood map. Both are useful, but they serve different needs.
What an HTML site map should include
A good HTML site map doesn’t reproduce the navigation menu word for word. It complements it by showing the deeper levels that the menu hides. Here are the elements to include:
- The site’s main pages: home page, primary sections, subsections, contact pages, and legal notices
- Deep content that isn’t shown directly in the menu, such as blog archives, detailed product pages, or secondary category pages
- Links to functional pages (search, FAQ, forms) that visitors often look for but can’t find in the menu
By contrast, duplicate pages, internal search results pages, and pagination pages don’t belong in an HTML site map. They add clutter without providing useful guidance.
Site map accessibility: a criterion checked in audits
A site map isn’t an aesthetic extra. WCAG 2.2.5 (“Multiple Ways”) requires that a page can be found through more than one route: via the menu, search, or the site map. A well-organized site map directly meets this accessibility criterion.
Audit standards such as RGAA check one specific point: the link to the “site map” page must be accessible in the same way and located in the same place on every page within a set of pages. If your link appears in the footer on the home page but disappears on internal pages, the audit will fail.
Three audiences who rely on it
Screen reader users benefit most from a site map. Browsing a site page by page to understand its structure takes considerable cognitive effort. A site map provides an overview of the entire site structure in one place.
People who navigate by keyboard (whether due to a motor disability or personal preference) get direct access without having to tab through every interactive element in a complex menu. And all visitors, including those without disabilities, use it to find a page when they’ve forgotten how to get there.
Site map structure and maintenance: practical mistakes to avoid
A poorly structured site map does more harm than no site map at all. If the page displays a flat list of 300 links with no hierarchy, no one will be able to find their way around. The structure should reflect the site’s logic: main sections, then subsections, then content pages.
Limiting each level to around ten links keeps the site map easy to read. Beyond that, visitors lose focus and the page becomes just as confusing as the site it’s supposed to clarify.
The other common mistake is failing to keep it up to date. Many sites generate their site map automatically through a plugin or CMS. This is convenient, but can sometimes produce links to deleted pages, redirect loops, or duplicates. A site map with broken links undermines visitors’ trust.
- Check every quarter that the site map links lead to active pages
- Remove archived or merged pages that are no longer relevant to navigation
- Compare the HTML site map with the XML sitemap to spot differences between what visitors see and what search engines see
- Make sure the site map hierarchy matches the actual menu structure, with consistent terminology
Automatic or manual: a false dilemma
Automatic generation works well for large sites that regularly add pages. Manual creation allows for more careful editorial selection. Combining both approaches is the most reliable solution: generate the basic structure automatically, then review the labels and organization manually.
Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act has applied to several consumer-facing services, including e-commerce and banking services. For the sites concerned, a site map is no longer just a navigation convenience. It’s an element reviewed in compliance audits, and its absence or poor design can create a real regulatory issue.
