XML Sitemap Plus Generator & Splitter

XML Sitemap Plus Generator & Splitter

XML Sitemap Generator & Splitter is currently helping many stores (with few hundreds to thousands of SKUs) in improving their Search Engine indexing and visibility.</br> We couldn’t be any more excited to finally unveil improved Cueblocks' XML Sitemap PLUS Generator & Splitter.</br></br> Here's how you can use the new version of our XML sitemap extension to better manage your e-commerce Magento store's XML Sitemaps:

• Category path for product urls/links: </br> As you may already know, you can choose to include or exclude category path in product urls from System > Configuration > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization tab. Thus a new product that you add to your store, can be accessed using multiple URL versions. Obviously, you wouldn't want to serve multiple URL versions of same product to Search Engines as this may cause duplication issues in Google's index.
  With XML Sitemap Plus Generator & Splitter, you can now choose which version of your product urls you would like to be included in your XML Sitemap. You can either include the product page URL with category path (canonical) or Category path URL or both.
  Note: From SEO standpoint, we strongly recommend that you only include product page URLs (which is the default setting of our extension). We encourage you to activate canonical meta tag for your product pages in case you do use categories path in your product urls.
• Divide sitemap by category: It is now possible to create separate XML sitemaps for every category.
• Real Last Modification date: 'mod date' value in XML Sitemap tells Search Engines about when was the content on a page last updated. 'mod date' helps Search Engines in calculating their crawl frequency. You can now specify if you want the extension to automatically include the 'Mod date' value or to use the date when the sitemap was generated.
• Generate Image Sitemap: </br> You can now also create image sitemap as per Google's protocol along with a regular sitemap. The Image sitemap type will include the image information with your product urls.
• Generate Mobile Sitemap : </br> A Mobile Sitemap is a separate XML sitemap which contains URLs that serve mobile web content. Using 'XML Sitemap Plus Generator & Splitter', you can now generate a Mobile Sitemap as per Google's recommended format in addition to regular or mobile or both sitemaps.
• New plugin to include urls from AW Blog!: </br> It is now possible to create separate XML sitemaps for every category.
• New plugin to include urls from AW Blog!: </br> 'XML Sitemap PLUS Generator & Splitter' will now allow you to filter the products and category urls at Store View level, in case you are using different Category Root at Store View level.
• Checks for and notifies missing URL Rewrite: </br> In Magento, when the URL rewriting is not enabled Magento URLs look like this: www.yourstore.com/catalog/product/view/id/166 or catalog/category/view/id/10. If you have URL rewrite enabled, Magento rewrites URLs in a user and search engine friendly version, such as www.yourstore.com/category-name/product-name.html. When'XML Sitemap PLUS Generator & Splitter' generates your XML sitemaps, it will check all the URLs in the XML sitemap and notifies you if it encounters an entry with missing URL rewrite.
• Respects your robots.txt rules!: </br> You can now generate XML sitemaps and exclude paths that you have disallowed in your robots.txt for all bots. (It respects rules set for user-agent: * )

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We’d love to hear your thoughts on how we could improve it further to make 'XML Sitemap PLUS Generator & Splitter' more useful for your Magento store.

How to use this extension?

1. Step 1: Setup Extension Configuration. This first step is optional because we have set default configuration values on the setting page in a way that it fulfills most of your store's XML Sitemap requirements; but it's always good to check the configuration settings of the extension to know how the XML Sitemap will be generated. To go to the configuration page, from the Magento Admin Panel, go to System > Configuration. On the left navigation of this page, you will find 'Magento XML Sitemap Generator & Splitter', under CUEBLOCKS. Set the extension configuration as per requirement. Make sure that you enter the email address(es), where you would like to receive Sitemap Summary each time sitemap is generated or updated.
2. Step 2: Go to Add Sitemap. Go to manage sitemaps from Magento Admin Panel top navigation: Catalog > 'Magento XML Sitemap Generator & Splitter'. Click on 'Add Sitemap' button on the top-right hand corner of this screen.
   
3. Step 3: Generate New Sitemap. Enter 'File name of your XML Sitemap', Root location & select store view and click on 'Save & Generate' butto. That's it. It's done. Your XML Sitemap will be generated and get listed on the 'Manage Sitemap' screen.

FAQs

What is "XML sitemap"?
The XML Sitemaps protocol allows you to inform search engines about URLs on your store that are available for crawling. It allows you  to include additional information about each URL: when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site. This allows search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.

What is "Change frequency"?
This value indicates how frequently the content at a particular URL is likely to change.

What is "Last Modified"?
The time the URL was last modified. This information allows crawlers to avoid re-crawling documents that haven't changed.
You can let the generator set this field from your server's response headers or to specify your own date and time.

What is "Priority"?
This indicates priority of your pages relative to all the other pages on the site to Search Engines. Assigning a high priority to all the pages will not help your site's search ranking. The valid range is from 0.0 to 1.0, with 1.0 being the most important.

What is the ideal time to set for Generating/Updating the Sitemap?
If you have a large store, then please select a time when your store sees lower traffic (for example 03:00:00). Sitemap generation process consumes bandwidth and can result in server overload or slow speed, if your server gets overwhelmed. You must consult your server administrator for server resource availability and the best time for auto-generation of XML Sitemaps.

There are so many configuration options. Do I need to change them all?
No, only if you want to. We have set default values in a way that it fulfills most of your store's XML Sitemap requirements.

Which Magento versions does your extension support? Community :: 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 Enterprise :: 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13

Which edition does your extension support?
We have successfully tested this extension on both Magento Community & Enterprise Edition.

Should I generate Compressed (sitemap.xml.gz) or Uncompressed (sitemap.xml) files?
The "sitemap.xml.gz" is nothing but compressed version of the "sitemap.xml" file. It has the same content, but is significantly smaller than the other one. If you have limited bandwidth go for compressed XML sitemap; but if you don't have a server limitation, go for Uncompressed XML sitemap.

Does the ping function ensure that my updated Sitemap will be indexed by Search Engines?
We automatically ping search engines to index your XML sitemap(s) each time it's generated or updated. However, this doesn't ensure indexing. We strongly recommend that you submit/update the index sitemap to Google & Bing Webmaster Account.

How will I know if my store's Sitemap.xml files are being automatically updated?
Each time the sitemap is generated, we email an information summary of sitemap generation attempt to the specified email Id(s).

How can I stop receiving email summary when Sitemap updates?
If you go to Extension configuration and remove your email address from Cron Job settings on the extension configuration page, you will stop receiving XML sitemap summaries in your inbox.

Can all Search Engines follow the Image XML generated by your extension?
No. As of now, only Google gives you the facility to include image URLs in your XML Sitemap. Search Engine crawlers like Bing & Ask are most likely ignore these image URLs from your XML sitemap and crawl the images traditionally. 
I run multiple stores using same Magento installation. How can I generate XML Sitemap(s) for specific store(s)?
Our extension does give you the facility to specify 'pathmap' for symlinked domains so that you can generate XML sitemap(s) for specific stores. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will be happy to enable this functionality for you.
  Will this extension create the url re-writes for the sitemaps?
Yes, the extension generates link using url re-writes settings.
Can we create sitemaps at separate store views levels?
Yes, it is possible.
How long does it take to create the sitemaps?
It depends on the number of products/categories and server configuration. However, it has been tested for almost 200k products (under high performance server) and it takes a few seconds only to generate site maps.
Does It manage “Out of Stock” product?
Yes, the extension is able to generate separate sitemap files with out of stock products.
Does It generate a sitemap for images as well?
Yes, the extension can manage product images link and it will add it to the product sitemap.
We have multiple Webstores operating from the same installation. Will purchasing one extension will cover all stores?
Yes, purchasing a single extension will work for all your stores.
Is there any installation instruction/guide?
Yes, a pdf with complete installation instruction is provided along with the extension package.
Is an extension demo available?
No.