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Indexing & Sitemaps · Guide #7

HTML Sitemap

Generate a visitor-friendly HTML sitemap page that helps users navigate your site and improves crawlability — configurable slug, layout style, and content type display.

⏱ 4 min read 👤 Beginner 📦 v6.5+

Where to Find This Tab

Go to SEO Rank Genius → Indexing & Sitemaps → HTML Sitemap (third tab under the “Main” group).

Sitemap Settings

The HTML Sitemap generates a public page listing all your content in an organized, clickable format designed for human visitors.

Enable HTML Sitemap
Generate a user-friendly sitemap page for visitors
Sitemap Slug
URL path: yoursite.com/sitemap/
sitemap
Include Taxonomies
Show category and tag archive pages
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SEO benefit: An HTML sitemap creates internal links to every page, helping search engines discover deep pages that might otherwise be hard to reach through navigation.

Layout Style

Choose how your HTML sitemap is visually organized:

LayoutDescriptionBest For
Grouped by TypePosts, pages, and custom types in separate sectionsMost sites
AlphabeticalAll URLs in a single A–Z listSmall sites (<50 pages)
HierarchicalNested parent → child page structureDeep page hierarchies

Content Display Options

Fine-tune what information appears alongside each link:

  • Show dates — Display the publish date next to each post title.
  • Show excerpts — Include a short description below each link.
  • Show post counts — Display number of posts in each section header.
  • Exclude noindex pages — Automatically hide pages marked as noindex.

Shortcode Usage

Instead of using the auto-generated page, embed the HTML sitemap anywhere using a shortcode:

[slg_html_sitemap]

Add this to any page or post to render the full HTML sitemap inline. Useful for placing the sitemap on an existing page.

Troubleshooting

HTML Sitemap Page Returns 404

  • Go to Settings → Permalinks and click “Save Changes” to flush rewrite rules.
  • Ensure the slug doesn’t conflict with an existing page. Try “site-map” or “all-pages”.

Missing Content on the Sitemap

  • Check if the post type is enabled in Settings → Content Processing.
  • Posts with noindex enabled are excluded by default (if that option is on).
  • Draft and private posts are never shown.