XML Sitemap Settings
Turn Rank Genius into your canonical XML sitemap: enable generation, shard with a sitemap index, tune which post types ship, steer <changefreq>/<priority> logic for crawlers, and exclude junk routes—then preview or open the live file before you Save.
Before you start
XML maps are for bots. Open Indexing & Sitemaps → XML Sitemap when you want to control crawl hints, pagination of very large inventories, or which CPTs leave the index file. Always click Save after edits—tab-level controls persist through the shared indexing AJAX handler.
Why this tab exists
Single card UI: structure rows › content-type table › image toggles › page-builder guardrails › exclusions › priority radios.
Preview modal View live URL Save persists optionsLeft-rail indexing nav matches the SPA-style tab persistence Rank Genius ships in indexing-sitemaps-page.php; XML Sitemap is xml-sitemap.
- Resolve duplicate sitemap plugins first—two generators fighting the same slug confuses audits.
- For visitor-facing hierarchies use the HTML Sitemap companion; XML stays machine-readable.
- After permalink or host changes, revisit Indexing → Advanced tooling if crawl routes feel stale.
XML Sitemap screen
The card header repeats the subtitle Structure, content types & priority plus three utilities: Preview opens the modal sitemap inspector, View Live resolves the canonical public URL Rank Genius emits, and Save persists every field rendered in this tab.
Sitemap Structure
Enable XML Sitemap gates generation altogether. With Sitemap Index on, Rank Genius can emit /sitemap_index.xml referencing multiple shard files—a requirement once URL counts balloon. Links per Sitemap clamps each shard between 50 and 5,000 URLs; UI copy recommends staying between 200 and 1000 so Google pulls comfortably sized payloads.
XML Sitemap
Structure, content types & priority
Mirrors xm-sr rows plus the header CTAs wired in tab-xml-sitemap.php.
Post types & images
Included Content Types exposes Posts and Pages with per-row include toggles. The table surfaces reference priority pills (Posts 0.8, Pages 0.9) and textual changefreq labels—Weekly vs Monthly in the shipped strings—before the smarter Priority Logic block overrides numeric output.
Included Content Types
| Content type | Include | Priority | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Posts | 0.8 | Weekly | |
| Pages | 0.9 | Monthly |
Image Settings
Page Builder Templates
Elementor · Divi · Beaver · WPBakery · Bricks …
xm-ct columns match the shipped table order; Featured/Content switches live under Image Settings with Google callouts in-product.
Priority & changefreq
Rank Genius warns that priorities are computed dynamically rather than pasted as static guesses. Choosers include Pillar Role (page role tiers + pillar tagging), Authority Score, Internal Link Strength, and Manual Override for teams that already curated numbers elsewhere in the metabox workflows.
Calculates priority dynamically vs static values.
xm-radio-row styling in admin highlights the checked strategy; amber divider marks this “Unique” block.
Changefreq for Posts/Pages inherits the textual hints shown beside each row (Weekly/Monthly in localization). Larger sites pairing XML with Link Behavior breadcrumbs should skim the consolidated indexing hub so internal vs external linking policies stay coherent.
Exclude rules
Two complementary systems keep noise out:
- Page Builder Templates—flip the exclusion toggle so internal Elementor/Divi/Bricks-style templates skip the feed automatically.
- Exclude from Sitemap—card grid populated with public CPTs plus Media/Attachment; checking a tile marks its slug excluded while showing live publish counts.
Tiles mirror xm-excl-card; excluded cards inherit red framing.
slug · counts
public CPT kept
knowledge base
Page builder CPTs vanished?
Expected when Exclude Page Builder Templates is ON—those slugs funnel through the template guardrail instead.
PHP loops all $excludable_types but skips overlaps already handled when template auto-exclusion fires.
Troubleshooting
When Search Console rejects a feed or Bing drops discovery, chase URL resolution first, caching second, exclusions third.
Another plugin intercepts /sitemap.xml
Disable the duplicate emitter or delegate via server rules; Rank Genius can’t hydrate Search Console until a single authoritative endpoint wins.
Use this mental matrix before opening support—most incidents trace to excludes, CDN HTML cache, or double generators.