Re: Sitemap Vs Googlebot Crawling

> ... will Google still follow the links on the pages OR do I have to have the sitemap.xml file always up to date with all new added pages?

It surely helps to keep the sitemaps current.

Sitemaps provide Google with additional info, they don't replace the
regular crawling by following links on the net.

Popular and well structured sites get more or less indexed whether they
submit a sitemap or not, but XML sitemaps in combination with HTML
sitemaps and other navigational links can enhance the search engine
visibility of pages buried deep in a site's hierarchy, which without a
sitemap may never get crawled, even on high ranking sites.

Sebastian
http://www.smart-it-consulting.com/google-sitemaps.htm