When looking for a specific section on a rich editorial site, you click on three dropdown menus, end up on a page that doesn’t match, and start over. On a portal like Esprits Public, which covers culture, territorial projects, and nature, this scenario quickly repeats itself if you don’t know the shortcut: the site map, also known as the sitemap.
Editorial Sitemap and Accessibility: A Requirement Rather Than a Gadget
The site map is often relegated to the very bottom of the page, in a footer that no one reads. On a public or semi-public portal, this discretion poses a real accessibility problem.
The RGAA (General Reference for Improving Accessibility) requires that a site offers at least two distinct means of navigation: a main menu and a search engine, or a main menu and a site map. In practice, a portal that only provides a hamburger menu and nothing else fails this criterion during a quick audit.
Since the publication of WCAG 2.2 as a W3C recommendation on October 5, 2023, the requirements have become clearer. If navigation assistance (like a site map) is provided, it must appear in the same location on all pages. This is not a designer’s whim: it is a compliance criterion checked in flash accessibility diagnostics conducted in France since 2024.
When navigating on the Esprits Public site map, you can directly access the complete structure of the content, organized by theme. This type of page replaces a haphazard exploration with a structured reading, useful for both hurried visitors and readers using assistive technologies.
Finding an Article on Esprits Public Without Using the Search Engine
An internal search engine works well when you already know what you’re looking for. You type in a keyword and get results. The site map addresses a different need: exploring a portal when you don’t yet know what you will find.
On a site covering such varied topics as natural parks, children’s education, territorial data, or cultural publishing, navigating by menu requires prior knowledge of the categories. The site map, on the other hand, lays out the entire structure flat.
Concrete Case: Identifying Content Related to Natural Parks
You are interested in natural spaces in France, but you don’t know if the site covers national parks, regional natural parks, or both. Instead of testing each section of the menu, you open the sitemap and quickly locate the articles published on the subject, their publication dates, and their thematic connections.
This tree structure reading saves time as soon as the volume of content exceeds a few dozen pages. It is also a good way to check if a topic has already been addressed before looking for information elsewhere.
Structure of an Editorial Sitemap: What Makes It Truly Useful
Not all sitemaps are created equal. An XML sitemap intended for search engines is of no use to a human reader: it is a technical file, unreadable without a dedicated tool. What we are interested in here is the HTML site map, designed to be read directly in a browser.
A useful editorial site map has several characteristics:
- A classification by sections or thematic categories (culture, nature, territory, projects, practices), not just by publication date
- Complete and explicit article titles, not truncated titles or numerical identifiers
- A regular update that reflects the latest publications, to avoid linking to outdated or deleted content
- Direct access from the footer or secondary menu of each page of the site, in accordance with WCAG 2.2 recommendations
When these conditions are met, the site map becomes a true interactive summary. You return to it like you return to the table of contents of a thick book.
Site Map and Natural SEO: A Often Underestimated Link
The HTML sitemap is not just for visitors. Google’s indexing bots also crawl the internal links present on this page. On an editorial site that regularly publishes on various topics (data, publishing, culture, children, practices in France), the site map accelerates the discovery of new pages by search engines.
In practical terms, an article published in a deep section of the site, accessible only after three clicks from the homepage, risks remaining invisible for weeks. If that same article appears in the site map (which is accessible in one click from any page), the indexing bot finds it faster.
What the HTML Sitemap Does Not Replace
The HTML site map does not replace the XML sitemap declared in the Search Console. The two serve complementary functions:
- The XML sitemap signals to search engines the technical list of URLs to index, along with their last modification date
- The HTML sitemap offers human visitors a readable and clickable overview of the structure
- A well-optimized site uses both: one for bots, the other for people
Feedback varies on the actual impact of the HTML sitemap in terms of pure SEO, but its effect on internal linking and time spent on the site is rarely disputed.
Navigating a French Site Independently
The site map remains one of the simplest and most underutilized navigation tools on the web. On an editorial portal like Esprits Public, it transforms hesitant exploration into organized reading. You know what exists, you choose what you want to read, and you access it in one click. No need to search, no need to guess the logic of the menu. The summary is there; you just need to open it.
