Manage Sitemaps

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is your website's table of contents. It lists all the important pages on your site, helping search engines like Google understand your structure and find your content.

Add your first sitemap

Navigate to the Sitemap Manager

  1. Go to your project dashboard
  2. Click "Manage Sitemaps"

Select your project

Choose which project you want to add a sitemap to from the dropdown menu. Each project can have multiple sitemaps.


Enter your website URL

  1. Type your website address (example.com or https://example.com)
  2. Click "Discover Sitemaps"
  3. The tool searches for sitemaps on your website
  4. This takes a few seconds

Understanding discovery

When you click "Discover Sitemaps," the tool:

  • Checks common sitemap locations on your website
  • Looks in your robots.txt file for sitemap references
  • Finds individual sitemaps and sitemap indexes

The discovery window shows you:

  • Sitemap URL: The web address of each discovered sitemap
  • Last Modified: When the sitemap was last updated (if available)
  • URL Count: How many web pages are listed in that sitemap

Select and add sitemaps

Review discovered sitemaps

  • Tick the boxes next to the sitemaps you want to add
  • Select multiple sitemaps at once
  • Use "Select All" to choose all discovered sitemaps

Add selected sitemaps

  • Click "Add Selected Sitemaps"
  • The system processes each sitemap and adds all its URLs to your project
  • You'll see a confirmation message showing how many sitemaps and URLs were added

Managing Your Sitemaps

Viewing Your Sitemaps

sitemap controls

Your sitemaps appear in a table showing:

  • Sitemap URL: The web address of your sitemap
  • Project: Which project the sitemap belongs to
  • Last Updated: When the sitemap was last processed
  • Controls: Three dropdown menus for managing sitemap settings

Sitemap controls

Each sitemap has three dropdown controls:

Status (Enabled/Disabled)

  • Enabled: The sitemap is active and its URLs can be processed
  • Disabled: The sitemap is turned off and won't be used

Mode (Auto/Manual)

  • Auto Mode: New URLs found in your sitemap are automatically processed every 6 hours
  • Manual Mode: You control when URLs are processed

Structure View (Sitemap/AI Cluster)

  • Sitemap Structure: Shows URLs organised by their folder structure (/blog/, /products/)
  • AI Clustered: Shows URLs grouped by AI-detected content categories for easier management

Sitemap actions

Manual refresh button

  • Updates the sitemap with any new or changed URLs from your website
  • Use this when you've added new content to your site
  • The system shows you if any changes were found

Delete button

  • Permanently removes the sitemap and all its URLs from your project
  • This action cannot be undone
  • Use with caution

Working with URLs

Viewing Sitemap URLs

Click the arrow (▶) next to any sitemap to see its individual web pages:

  • The arrow changes to (▼) when expanded
  • You'll see a list of all URLs found in that sitemap

Path groups and categories

When you expand a sitemap, you'll see:

  • Path Groups: Organised folders of URLs (/blog/, /products/, /about/)
  • Category Dropdown: Select a category to apply bulk actions
  • Quick Actions: Toggle entire categories active/inactive with one click

Auto mode vs manual mode

Auto mode features

  • Automatic processing: New URLs are handled by background tasks every 6 hours
  • Simplified view: Clean list of URLs with basic controls
  • Status controls: You can still enable/disable individual URLs if needed
  • Best for: Sites that regularly add new content

manage sitemaps automatically

Manual mode features

  • Full control: You decide which URLs to process and when
  • Selection tools: Tickboxes to select individual or multiple URLs
  • Bulk processing: Process many URLs at once
  • Search and filter: Find specific URLs quickly
  • Best for: Sites where you want precise control over URL processing

Managing Individual URLs

URL status (Active/Inactive)

  • Active: The URL is included in your project processing
  • Inactive: The URL is excluded from processing
  • Toggle this setting by clicking the status switch

Bulk operations

Using path groups (Available in both modes)

  • Category dropdown: Select a folder/category from the dropdown
  • Set action: Choose "Set Active" or "Set Inactive"
  • Apply: Click "Apply" to update all URLs in that category
  • Quick toggles: Click the toggle next to any path group for instant activation/deactivation

Manual selection (Manual mode only)

  • Select All: Choose all visible URLs
  • Process Selected: Send selected URLs for processing
  • Search: Find specific URLs by typing in the search box

Filter and search options

Status filter

  • All Pages: Show all URLs regardless of status
  • Active Only: Show only enabled URLs
  • Inactive Only: Show only disabled URLs

Category filter

  • All Categories: Show URLs from all folders
  • Specific Categories: Filter by folder structure (/blog/, /products/)

Search

  • Type keywords to find specific URLs
  • Search works across the entire URL text

Pagination and viewing options

When you have many URLs:

  • Items per page: Choose to show 10, 25, 50, or 100 URLs per page
  • Page navigation: Use First, Previous, Next, Last buttons
  • Page numbers: Jump directly to specific pages

Understanding processing modes

What does "processing" mean?

When URLs are processed, the system:

  • Analyses the content of each web page
  • Extracts important information
  • Organises the data for analysis and reporting

Choose the right mode

Use Auto Mode when:

  • Your website frequently adds new content (blogs, news sites, e-commerce)
  • You want a "set it and forget it" approach
  • You trust the system to handle new content automatically
  • You prefer the system to check for updates every 6 hours

Use Manual Mode when:

  • You want precise control over which pages are analysed
  • Your website changes infrequently
  • You need to review content before processing
  • You're working with sensitive or specialised content

Troubleshoot common issues

"No sitemaps found"

Possible causes:

  • Your website doesn't have a sitemap
  • The sitemap isn't in a standard location
  • The sitemap isn't accessible to the discovery tool

Solutions:

  • Check if your website has a sitemap at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
  • Look for sitemap references in yoursite.com/robots.txt
  • Contact your web developer if you're unsure

"Failed to process sitemap"

Possible causes:

  • The sitemap URL is temporarily unavailable
  • The sitemap format is invalid
  • Network connectivity issues

Solutions:

  • Wait a few minutes and try the refresh button
  • Verify the sitemap URL works in your web browser
  • Check with your web host if problems persist

"Sitemap already exists"

Cause:

  • You're trying to add a sitemap that's already in your project

Solution:

  • Check your existing sitemaps list
  • Use the refresh button on the existing sitemap instead

Best practices

Regular maintenance

  • After major updates: Refresh sitemaps after publishing significant new content
  • Clean up: Remove or disable sitemaps for outdated or removed sections of your site
  • Monitor auto mode: Check that automatic processing is working as expected

Choose settings

  • Start with auto mode: For most users, auto mode provides the best balance of convenience and coverage
  • Monitor results: Check processing results regularly to ensure everything is working as expected
  • Use path groups: Leverage category-based bulk actions to manage large numbers of URLs efficiently
  • Adjust as needed: Switch to manual mode for specific sitemaps that need more control

Organisation tips

  • Use descriptive project names: Make it easy to identify which sitemaps belong to which sites
  • Group related sitemaps: Keep sitemaps from the same website in the same project
  • Regular cleanup: Remove sitemaps for websites or sections you no longer need to monitor
  • Leverage structure views: Use AI Clustered view to see content groupings you might not have considered

Get help

Status messages

The system provides helpful messages about:

  • Successful operations (green notifications)
  • Warnings (yellow notifications)
  • Errors (red notifications)

Common success messages

  • "Sitemap processed successfully - URLs updated"
  • "X sitemaps added successfully"
  • "Sitemap status updated successfully"
  • "Updated X URLs under [category]"

Common warning messages

  • "Sitemap checked - no changes found since last update"
  • "X already existed (skipped during bulk add)"

When to contact support

  • Persistent error messages that don't resolve with troubleshooting
  • Sitemaps that should exist but can't be discovered
  • Unexpected behaviour in URL processing
  • Questions about which mode is best for your specific use case
  • Issues with automatic processing not working as expected

Quick reference

Key buttons and their functions

  • Discover Sitemaps: Find available sitemaps for a website
  • Add Selected: Add chosen sitemaps to your project
  • Refresh: Update a sitemap with latest content
  • Delete: Remove a sitemap permanently
  • ▶/▼: Expand/collapse to see individual URLs
  • Apply: Execute bulk actions on selected categories
  • Process Selected: Send selected URLs for processing (Manual mode)

Dropdown controls

  • Status: Enable/Disable sitemap
  • Mode: Auto/Manual processing
  • Structure: Sitemap/AI Clustered view

Path group actions

  • Category selection: Choose folder/category for bulk actions
  • Quick toggles: Instantly activate/deactivate entire categories
  • Status indicators: Visual feedback showing active/inactive/partial status for each category
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