A sitemap is essentially a roadmap of your website for search engines. It lists all your pages and tells Google where everything is, making it easier to crawl and index your content. Without a sitemap, Google might miss important pages, especially on larger websites.
Sitemaps are written in XML format and can be submitted directly through Google Search Console. They're especially important for new websites or sites with hundreds of pages. You can generate sitemaps easily using plugins like Rank Math SEO or Yoast SEO if you're on WordPress. Once submitted, Google follows the sitemap to discover and index your pages much faster.