What is the purpose of a sitemap in web development?

The purpose of a sitemap in web development is to list all pages for search engines to crawl. Sitemaps serve as a guide for search engine bots, providing them with a structured overview of the website's content. This makes it easier for search engines to find, index, and understand the website’s structure and hierarchy, which can enhance the website's visibility in search results. By clearly outlining the relationships between different pages and the content they contain, sitemaps can help ensure that all relevant pages are recognized and indexed, potentially improving the site's overall search engine optimization (SEO) performance.

This option specifically addresses the primary function of sitemaps in facilitating efficient crawling by search engine algorithms, which is critical for effective online visibility and SEO strategies. Other choices, while related to web development, do not capture the essential role that sitemaps play in relation to search engines and indexing.