How to Create a Visual Sitemap of Any Website

A visual sitemap is a diagram that shows how a website's pages are organized and connected. Instead of a list of URLs in an XML file, a visual sitemap presents your site structure as a flowchart or tree diagram where you can see the hierarchy at a glance: homepage at the top, main sections branching off, sub-pages branching further.

Visual sitemaps are useful during website planning, redesigns, content audits, and client presentations. They answer the question "how is this site organized?" in a way that anyone can understand, regardless of technical background.

This guide covers what visual sitemaps are, when to use them, the best tools for creating them, and practical tips for getting the most out of them. For the technical XML sitemap reference, see our XML sitemap guide.

What a Visual Sitemap Is (and Is Not)

What it is

A visual sitemap is a diagram, typically a tree or flowchart, that maps out the pages of a website and shows how they relate to each other hierarchically. The homepage sits at the top. Main navigation pages branch off from it. Sub-pages branch from those. The result is a visual representation of your site's information architecture.

A simple visual sitemap might look like this in concept:

Homepage
  |-- About
  |-- Products
  |     |-- Product A
  |     |-- Product B
  |     |-- Product C
  |-- Blog
  |     |-- Post 1
  |     |-- Post 2
  |-- Contact

Professional visual sitemap tools render this as a polished diagram with boxes, color coding, annotations, and sometimes screenshots of each page.

What it is not

A visual sitemap is not an XML sitemap. An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file that lists URLs for search engines. A visual sitemap is a human-readable diagram for planning and communication. They serve completely different purposes, even though they share the word "sitemap."

You cannot submit a visual sitemap to Google. You cannot use an XML sitemap as a planning tool in a client meeting. Know which one you need for which situation.

When to Use a Visual Sitemap

Website planning and design

Before building a new site, mapping out the structure visually helps you make decisions about navigation, content organization, and user flow. It is much easier to move boxes around in a diagram than to restructure a live website.

Redesigns and migrations

When redesigning an existing site, a visual sitemap of the current structure helps you understand what you are working with. Create one for the current site, then create another for the proposed new structure. Comparing the two reveals what pages need to be redirected, what content is being consolidated, and what gaps exist.

Content audits

A visual sitemap reveals structural problems that are hard to spot in a spreadsheet. Pages buried five levels deep with no clear path from the homepage. Sections with 200 pages and sections with 3. Orphaned branches that nobody maintains. Seeing the structure visually makes these issues obvious.

Client communication

Try explaining a 500-page site structure to a stakeholder using a spreadsheet. Now try doing it with a visual diagram. The diagram wins every time. Visual sitemaps are invaluable for getting buy-in on site architecture decisions.

SEO analysis

Visual sitemaps help you evaluate how link equity flows through your site. Pages closer to the homepage in the hierarchy tend to receive more internal link authority. If your most important pages are buried deep in the structure, a visual sitemap makes that problem visible. For more on how site structure affects SEO, see how to find a sitemap of a website.

Tools for Creating Visual Sitemaps

Octopus.do

Octopus.do is a dedicated visual sitemap tool built specifically for this purpose. You start with a blank canvas, add pages as blocks, and connect them to show hierarchy.

What it does well: Clean, professional output. Drag-and-drop interface. Easy to share with clients and team members. Supports page annotations, status labels, and color coding. Export to PDF or PNG.

Limitations: Manual entry required for most use cases. No automatic crawling of existing sites on the free plan. The free tier limits the number of pages.

Best for: Designers and agencies planning new sites, client presentations, and proposals.

Slickplan

Slickplan is another dedicated sitemap planning tool with a focus on professional output and team collaboration.

What it does well: Polished visual output. Team collaboration features with comments and approvals. Content planning built in, letting you assign content to each page in the sitemap. Import from XML sitemap to auto-generate a visual map. Export to PDF, XML, HTML, or CSV.

Limitations: Paid plans only (no permanent free tier). More features than some teams need, which can make it feel heavy for simple projects.

Best for: Agencies managing multiple client projects, teams that need content planning alongside sitemap planning.

FlowMapp

FlowMapp is a UX planning platform that includes visual sitemaps as one of its core features, alongside user flows and content planning.

What it does well: Combines sitemaps with user flow diagrams and content planning in one platform. Clean drag-and-drop editor. Real-time collaboration. Integrates visual sitemap planning with broader UX planning.

Limitations: The sitemap tool is part of a larger platform, so you are paying for more than just sitemaps. Pricing can be high for small teams.

Best for: UX teams and agencies that need sitemaps as part of a broader design planning workflow.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog is primarily a website crawler used for technical SEO audits, but it includes a visualization feature that generates a visual sitemap from crawl data.

What it does well: Automatically crawls any website and generates a visual tree structure. No manual entry needed. Shows real data: response codes, page titles, meta descriptions, and link structure. The crawl data behind the visualization is incredibly detailed.

Limitations: The visualization itself is basic compared to dedicated tools. Not designed for client presentations. The main value is in the crawl data, not the visual output. Requires a desktop application (Windows, macOS, Linux). Free version crawls up to 500 URLs.

Best for: SEO professionals auditing existing sites. When you need to see the actual structure of a live site rather than plan an ideal one.

How to use Screaming Frog for visual sitemaps

1. Download and install Screaming Frog
2. Enter the URL of the site you want to map
3. Click "Start" to begin the crawl
4. Once the crawl completes, go to Visualizations > Crawl Tree Graph or Directory Tree Graph
5. The tool generates an interactive tree showing the site's actual structure

This is especially useful for auditing sites you did not build, or for seeing how a site's real structure compares to its intended structure.

Other Tools Worth Mentioning

Figma and FigJam. Not dedicated sitemap tools, but many designers create visual sitemaps in Figma using simple shapes and connectors. If your team already uses Figma, this avoids adding another tool. Community templates for sitemaps are available.

Miro and Whimsical. General diagramming tools that work well for visual sitemaps. Flexible, collaborative, and many people already have accounts. Less polished output than dedicated sitemap tools, but perfectly functional.

GlooMaps. A free, simple visual sitemap tool. No account required. Good for quick sitemaps when you need something fast without signing up for a service. Limited features compared to paid tools.

WriteMaps. A straightforward sitemap tool focused on simplicity. Create visual sitemaps, add notes and content requirements, and share with clients. Has a free tier.

Creating a Visual Sitemap from an XML Sitemap

If you already have an XML sitemap for your site, you can use it as the starting point for a visual sitemap. This saves you from manually entering every URL.

Step 1: Get your XML sitemap

Find your site's XML sitemap. It is usually at https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. If you are not sure where it is, check your robots.txt file or see our guide on how to find a sitemap of a website.

Step 2: Import into a visual tool

Several tools support XML sitemap import:

• Slickplan has a direct XML sitemap import feature. Upload the file or provide the URL, and it builds a visual sitemap from the URL structure.
• Screaming Frog can crawl the site directly, which is often better than importing a static sitemap file because it shows the real link structure.
• Octopus.do supports importing site structure from a URL list, which you can extract from your XML sitemap.

Step 3: Clean up the output

Automated imports create a raw structure based on URL paths. You will usually need to clean it up:

• Remove utility pages that do not belong in a planning sitemap (login pages, search result pages, paginated archives)
• Group related pages that the import scattered across sections
• Add labels and annotations that make the diagram meaningful
• Remove duplicate representations of the same content

Step 4: Refine and share

Once cleaned up, add color coding (green for published, yellow for in progress, red for needs attention), annotations for key decisions, and any notes that help your team or client understand the structure.

Tips for Better Visual Sitemaps

Keep the depth manageable

A visual sitemap that goes seven levels deep is hard to read. If your site has deeply nested content, consider showing the top three or four levels in the main diagram and creating separate detail diagrams for specific sections.

Use color coding consistently

Assign colors to page types: blue for informational pages, green for product pages, orange for blog content. Or use colors to show status: published, draft, planned. Pick a system and stick with it.

Include page counts for large sections

If your blog section has 300 posts, you do not need 300 boxes in your visual sitemap. Show "Blog" as one box with a note saying "300 posts" and link to a separate list if needed.

Show the user's perspective

The most useful visual sitemaps reflect how users navigate the site, not just how files are organized on the server. Group pages by user task or topic, not by technical directory structure.

Version your sitemaps

If you are using a visual sitemap for planning, save versions as you go. The "before" and "after" comparison is valuable for documenting decisions and explaining changes to stakeholders.

Include key metadata

For planning sitemaps, add notes to each page block: target keyword, content owner, status, template type. This turns the visual sitemap from a simple diagram into a planning document.

Visual Sitemaps vs Other Diagrams

Visual sitemap vs user flow

A visual sitemap shows page hierarchy. A user flow shows the path a user takes to complete a task (sign up, make a purchase, find information). They are complementary. The sitemap shows the structure; the user flow shows the journey through that structure.

Visual sitemap vs wireframe

A wireframe shows the layout of a single page. A visual sitemap shows how all pages relate to each other. You need both during the design process, but they serve different purposes.

Visual sitemap vs information architecture

Information architecture (IA) is the discipline of organizing information. A visual sitemap is one tool used in IA. The sitemap shows the structure you designed; the IA process determines what that structure should be.

Getting Started

If you have never created a visual sitemap before, start simple:

1. List your site's main sections (the items in your primary navigation)
2. Under each section, list the key sub-pages
3. Sketch the hierarchy on paper or in any diagramming tool
4. Refine from there

For existing sites, start with a crawl using Screaming Frog or generate an XML sitemap and use that as the foundation. For new sites, start with the user's needs and work backward to the structure that serves them.

The goal is not a perfect diagram. The goal is a clear picture of how your site is organized so you can make better decisions about structure, navigation, content, and SEO.

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References

• Sitemaps.org Protocol Specification
• Google Search Central: Sitemaps Overview