The word "sitemap" has typically been used to describe a page on your website that has links to all the other pages on your site in one place, arranged in a hierarchical structure, like this. The sitemaps we talk about in this post are similar, in a sense, and yet completely different.

Both Google and Yahoo! allow you to upload an XML file, called a sitemap or sitemap file, that tells the search engines key information about your website. The benefit to you is that your site's pages get indexed more quickly and completely than they might otherwise. Yes, some experts say to use the sitemap feature with caution, but you're just a beginner, so carry on. Oh, and if you don't know what "XML" stands for, just ignore it. The important thing to understand is that for the purposes of this post, the "sitemap" is a specific file on your site.

The sitemap file contains the following information:

1. Page location. That is, the file tells the search engines what pages exist on your site. This helps the search engines to index all the pages you want them to index and makes sure they don't miss anything.

2. Importance, or priority. Some pages are more important than others, and this file allows you to tell the search engines which ones are the most important by giving them a rank.

3. Frequency of updates, or how often a page is updated. The more often a page is updated, the more often it needs to be indexed by a search engine.

Submitting your sitemap to Yahoo!, Google, and MSN is fairly simple. If you're interested in doing it yourself here are step by step instructions.