How can I get sitemap.xml to appear?

  • Resolved garbunk

    (@garbunk)


    11 years, 2 months ago

    I am getting a lot of 404 errors on /sitemap.xml. However, on my site there appears to be no such file, all feeds must go to https://www.ledubooks.com/?feed=sitemap instead. How can I see to it that /sitemap.xml gets created?

    “Just notify Google of your new sitemap location” isn’t a solution because we’re in China and our customers don’t use Google. They use many different search engines, and these all default to looking for sitemap.xml. If this plugin can’t do that, then please let me know. Thanks!

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Hi Garbunk, there is no file created but if you use fancy permalinks then the feed on https://www.ledubooks.com/?feed=sitemap gets its own fancy permalink /sitemap.xml … I see you are (still) using the default permalink structure, which explains why you only have /?feed=sitemap available. You need to switch to any other Permalink rule than the default one. Do not worry about existing links to your site, they will get redirected by WordPress automatically

    And if you’re interested, XML Sitemap & Google News Feeds can ping Baidu ??

    Thread Starter garbunk

    (@garbunk)

    What’s wrong with the default link structure? Why would I need to change? I would never think that “being able to create sitemap.xml” and “I saw no need to change my link structure” were related in any way. Huh?

    Again, the plugin does NOT create a file. It creates a feed. And it needs WordPress to name that feed. If you use the default permalink structure, all feeds are named like /?feed=xxx… So your RSS feed is /?feed=rss and your Atom feed is /?feed=atom and (when using my plugin) your Sitemap feed is /?feed=sitemap. But if you switch to any other permalink structure, WordPress will be able to name feeds more ‘nicely’ like /feed/ or (when using my plugin) /sitemap.xml

    Also, when using any other permalink structure, WordPress will create a /robots.txt automatically (and again, this is NOT an actual file!) which will reference the sitemap so search engines can find it without guess work.

    What’s wrong with the default link structure? Why would I need to change?

    That’s a good question to which many people have much to say. Search engine optimization being one of the more prominent reasons among them. And since you are using a XML Sitemap, you would be interested in that aspect: it is said to help search engines better rank your posts since the title appears in the URL.

    Thread Starter garbunk

    (@garbunk)

    Well, frankly this plugin needs to be clearly labeled “for advanced users only”. I never would have thought that link structure had anything to do with my sitemap plugin not working correctly.

    I’m sorry you feel switching to any of the common Permalink structures falls under the “advanced” category. It probably means your expectations of magic happening after installing any (other) SEO related plugin are false too… These things need work, not only from the development community but from the user/site owner too.

    In any case, I wish you good luck with your site(map) and wise choices among the many alternative plugins ??

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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