Google's John Mueller says HTML sitemaps still help SEO and crawling, but they cannot replace XML sitemap files because they lack the strict structure Google needs to process them one-to-one. Mueller and fellow Googler Martin Splitt made the comments in a recent episode of the Search Off The Record podcast.

What did Mueller actually say?

Asked by Splitt whether site owners must use XML sitemaps or whether HTML sitemaps are acceptable, Mueller drew a sharp line between the two formats.

"An HTML sitemap is basically almost like a map of your website for users. It's not something that replaces an XML sitemap file," Mueller said.

He acknowledged the practical overlap. "Of course, if someone is crawling your website and they find an HTML sitemap file, they can crawl those links like any other link on a website, so that's helpful. But it's not the case that the HTML sitemap can be submitted as a sitemap file. It can't be processed one-to-one the same way as an XML sitemap file because it doesn't have this strict structure to it. It's basically a collection of links."

How old is the HTML sitemap?

Before XML sitemaps existed, SEOs and site owners built internal and external links to new pages so crawlers could find and rank them. They also linked from the home page footer — sometimes from every page — to an HTML sitemap listing links to inner pages they wanted indexed. Pages like About Us were typically left off.

RSS feeds may have played a discovery role even earlier. A 2004 university research paper documented that RSS feeds could help web crawlers identify new and modified pages and cut crawling bandwidth by up to 40%. But RSS was not universally implemented, which is likely why Google, Yahoo and Microsoft agreed on a single XML sitemap standard still in use today.

How should marketers use HTML sitemaps now?

Mueller's guidance: build them for users first, not as a crawling hack. He used an ecommerce example, noting that an HTML sitemap should not attempt to list everything.

"If you have an e-commerce site, you wouldn't list all of your products in an HTML sitemap file. You would list maybe the categories so that people can go to the right place, but then pick out the product individually. So it's similar, but not exactly the same," Mueller said.

The structure he described works for any site type: visitors land on the HTML sitemap, reach top-level category or topic pages, then drill down to the specific product or topic they want. Splitt noted the crawling benefit in his question: "that still would help crawling because from this place we can find all the links as well. It's just not as structured and clear cut as an XML sitemap." Mueller replied, "Yes, absolutely."

Should you add one?

Some marketers may see HTML sitemaps as a relic, like directory links or reciprocal link exchanges. Mueller's position suggests otherwise: HTML sitemaps are useful for users, and what is useful for users tends to be useful for Google.

The practical takeaway for B2B site owners: skip the exhaustive link dumps. Organize the HTML sitemap around genuine navigation paths, keep the XML sitemap for structured crawling signals, and let user engagement with the easier-to-navigate site feed discovery — a signal Mueller says Google will pick up on.