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XML Sitemaps
Automatically generates XML Sitemaps for your site and notifies search engines when they're updated.
The facts
- Rating
- 4.5★ from 13
- Active installs
- 2k+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 28 Nov 2017
- Added
- Jan 2009
- Requires WP
- 3.1
- Tested up to
- WP 4.7.35
- Downloads
- 227,741
Our analysis
AI-assistedThe XML Sitemaps plugin for WordPress automatically generates XML sitemaps for your site and notifies search engines when updates occur. It stores cached sitemaps in the wp-content/sitemaps folder and uses internal WordPress functions to accurately determine the number of blog, category, and tag pages.
This plugin is designed for users who want to enhance their site's SEO by ensuring search engines are informed of changes. It provides options to include or exclude various types of pages and can be configured easily through the settings menu.
Best for: This plugin suits WordPress users looking to improve their site's SEO through effective sitemap management.
What it does well
- ✓Automatically generates XML sitemaps
- ✓Notifies search engines of updates
- ✓Stores cached sitemaps in a specific folder
- ✓Allows configuration of included/excluded pages
- ✓Uses WordPress internals for accurate page counts
Where it falls short
- •Last updated in November 2017
- •Tested only up to WordPress version 4.7.35
Verdict
The XML Sitemaps plugin offers essential features for generating and managing sitemaps, but its age may limit compatibility with newer WordPress versions.
From the developer
Denis de Bernardy's own description of XML Sitemaps, lightly tidied.
The XML Sitemaps plugin for WordPress will automatically generate XML Sitemaps for your site and notify search engines when they’re updated.
Contrary to other plugins that generate sitemap files, this one will add a rewrite rule and store your cached sitemaps in the wp-content/sitemaps folder.
The XML Sitemaps plugin automatically assigns the rate of updates and the weight based on statistics collected on your site.
Pings occur automatically, on an hourly basis, if the sitemap file is updated.
Lastly, and contrary to the zillions of plugins that try to do the same as this one, this plugin will use the WP internals to determine the number of blog, category and tag pages on your site. This means it’ll play well with the likes of custom query string or Semiologic SEO.
Configuration
Starting with version 2.0 there is now the ability to control the inclusion or exclusion of date archives (years and months), author, category and tags pages in your sitemap.
Additionally specific pages can also be excluded by entering their page IDs.
Go to Settings->XML Sitemaps to update settings.
Help Me!
The Plugin’s Forum is the best place to report issues.
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