GOOGLE XML SITEMAP FOR MAGENTO 2.

GOOGLE XML SITEMAP FOR MAGENTO 2

This extension is also included in the Pearl Theme.

About GOOGLE XML SITEMAP FOR MAGENTO 2.

Dynamically generate XML sitemaps, help search engines faster crawl and index your store.

Google has specific rules for sitemap generation. It is useful to have your XML sitemaps built automatically with a help of Google XML Sitemap for Magento 2 extension in order to meet all search engines requirements. Faster indexing of new pages shortens the time your new products to appear in Google.

This extension helps you gain a granularly control over your Magento 2 sitemap by allowing you to control visibility in sitemap for each Product , Category and CMS page. Also it allows you to add into the sitemap custom URLs that are not included with default magento sitemap with full control over attributes like store-view, priority, change frequency and update date.

By using this extension you can dynamically exclude from sitemap Products, Categories and Pages that you do not want to be indexed by search engines but are still required in your store.

Include any links in your sitemaps:

Google XML Sitemap for Magento 2 allows to include/exclude links from various locations:

Category pages;
Product pages;
CMS pages;
Custom URLs.

Better sitemap reliability using advanced settings

You can configure detailed settings like storeview, priority, update date and change frequency. You can set the values specifically for each group of links: Products, Categories, CMS pages, and individually for each Custom URL. The more appropriate settings you have, the more reliability and trust to your site from Google.

Features of the Extension.

Faster indexation of your store content - better SEO score
Configure frequency updates - for each type of page CMS, Product, Category, Custom URL
Individual Product control - control what Products you want to be included/excluded from sitemap
Individual Category control - control what Categories you want to be included/excluded from sitemap
Individual CMS Pages control - control what CMS Pages you want to be included/excluded from sitemap
Add unlimited custom URLs - full control over each URL’s priority, store-view, change frequency and update date.
Dynamic generated sitemap - once configured, always up to date.
Add INDEX/NOINDEX and FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW meta tags - Improve SEO by adding INDEX/FOLLOW meta tags to Product Pages, Category Pages and CMS Pages.
Add Canonical meta tag - Improve SEO by adding the Canonical meta tag to Product Pages, Category Pages and CMS Pages.
Use Canonical URL for Sitemap links - Choose whether to use the configured Canonical URL for links in your Sitemap. You can choose to do this at the granular Product, Category or CMS Page level, or in bulk for each type of page.
New: Custom INDEX/FOLLOW values for Category & Search pages with applied filters - Choose whether pages that have filters applied (Category & Search) should be set to INDEX/NOINDEX and FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW.
Increase conversions and reduce bounce rate - allow search engines to index the appropriate elements of your store in order to reduce bounce rate and improve conversions.
Reduce return rate - help buyers find the best product for them using specific relevant information already indexed in search engines using your advanced sitemap
Easy to use - no coding needed
Best practice coding - extending the functionality of the default Magento 2 XML sitemap

1 MINUTE INSTALLATION GUI.

Step 1:
Before installing please check the extension compatibility. This extension is currently compatible with the following Magento versions 2.0.X. - 2.4.7-p3. It is recommended to install the extension first on a testing server before you install it on a live (production) server.
Step 2:
Copy the extension files to below paths of your magento 2 instance. If ‘app/code/WeltPixel’ folder is missing, please create it manually:
app/code/WeltPixel/Backend
app/code/WeltPixel/Sitemap

Optional
Copy the extension files into the below path of your Magento 2 instance. If the ‘app/code/WeSupply’ folder is missing, please create it manually:
app/code/WeSupply/Toolbox

Step 3:
Copy the installation GUI folder 'weltpixel-extension-installation' in the root of your Magento installation. In some Magento configurations the public root folder may be under 'pub' directory.
www.yourmagentostore.com/weltpixel-extension-installation/
Step 4:
In your browser go to www.yourmagentostore.com/weltpixel-extension-installation/ and simply follow the installation steps from the graphical interface, presented in your browser. See the installation video: 1 Minute Module Installation via browser GUI.
Step 5:
Wooohooo! The extension is now installed on your Magento store! Congrats!

Troubleshooting

If you experienced any issues or limitations with this quick GUI installation, see also SSH Installation below. SSH installation does the same thing but you are required to issue the commands step by step via CLI. Some servers may have high security configurations and may limit the functionality of this GUI Installer.

How to Install via SSH.

Step 1:
Before installing Google XML Sitemap Extension on a Magento 2 store please check the extension compatibility. This extension is currently compatible with the following Magento versions 2.0.X. - 2.4.7-p3. It is recommended to install the extension first on a testing server before you install it on a live (production) server.
Step 2:
Copy the extension files to below paths of your magento 2 instance. If ‘app/code/WeltPixel’ folder is missing, please create it manually:
app/code/WeltPixel/Backend
app/code/WeltPixel/Sitemap

Optional
Copy the extension files into the below path of your Magento 2 instance. If the ‘app/code/WeSupply’ folder is missing, please create it manually:
app/code/WeSupply/Toolbox

Step 3:
Access the root of your magento 2 project from command line and run the following commands:
php bin/magento module:enable WeltPixel_Backend --clear-static-content
php bin/magento module:enable WeltPixel_Sitemap --clear-static-content
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
Step 4:
Flush any cache that you might still have enabled on your server or in Magento.
Step 5:
Woohoo, the extension is installed!

How to Upgrade the extension.

Step 1. Remove extension code under app/code/WeltPixel/Sitemap before adding the new extension files. The extension may be refactored and old unused files may cause random issues so it's best to only keep the latest version of the files.
Step 2. Follow normal installation instructions above.

Magento Marketplace Installation.

If the extension was purchased from the Magento Marketplace, follow the instructions in this article: How to install extension if purchased from the Magento Marketplace
If asked for a license, follow the steps presented in section 7 of this article: License key for local / staging / development environment. Multi-store licensing.

How to Configure.

Step 1: Create your sitemap

Go to Marketing -> SEO & Search -> Site Map and add your sitemap by clicking on "Add Sitemap" button

Select the name for your sitemap, example: sitemap.xml
Select the path for your sitemap, example: "/sitemap/" or "/" for base path (path must be writeable)

Step 2: Configure your sitemap

Go to Stores -> Configuration -> Catalog -> XML Sitemap and configure default settings for your sitemap.

a. Select Frequency and Priority for each type of page in your store: Category Pages, Product Pages, CMS Pages.

Frequency

How frequently the page is likely to change. This value provides general information to search engines and may not correlate exactly to how often they crawl the page. Valid values are:

always / hourly / daily / weekly / monthly / yearly / never

The value "always" should be used to describe documents that change each time they are accessed. The value "never" should be used to describe archived URLs.

Please note that the value of this tag is considered a hint and not a command. Even though search engine crawlers may consider this information when making decisions, they may crawl pages marked "hourly" less frequently than that, and they may crawl pages marked "yearly" more frequently than that. Crawlers may periodically crawl pages marked "never" so that they can handle unexpected changes to those pages.

Priority

The priority of the URL relative to other URLs on your site. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0. This value does not affect how your pages are compared to pages on other sites—it only lets the search engines know which pages you deem most important for the crawlers. The default priority of a page is 0.5.

Please note that the priority you assign to a page is not likely to influence the position of your URLs in a search engine's result pages.

Search engines may use this information when selecting between URLs on the same site, so you can use this tag to increase the likelihood that your most important pages are present in a search index.

Also, please note that assigning a high priority to all of the URLs on your site is not likely to help you. Since the priority is relative, it is only used to select between URLs on your site.

b. Configuring sitemap generation settings
- Enable - [ Yes / No ] - this option enable sitemap generation. Make sure cronjobs are setup on your server in order for this automated task to be triggered.
- Start time - set the time when sitemap generation should start
- Frequency - set how often you want your sitemap to be updated
- Error email recepient - configure an email where you should receive potential error reports
- Error email sender - configure store default sender of the email
- Error email template - configure store default template for the email
- Maximum No of URLs per file - set the maximum number of URLs in sitemap.
- Maximum file size - set sitemap file size in bytes
- Enable submission to Robots.txt - [ Yes / No ] - if enabled sitemap will be included in robots.txt file of your store, facilitating search engines to faster discover it.

Step 3: Customize your sitemap and make it your own using GOOGLE XML SITEMAP for Magento 2

a. Exclude from sitemap particular CMS Pages you do not want indexed in search engines
- Go to Content -> Pages -> Edit Page -> WeltPixel Options -> Exclude from Sitemap -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to exclude certain CMS Pages from sitemap. Ex: ‘404 Not Found Page’ makes no sense to be indexed by google, you do not want your customers there.
b. Add INDEX/NOINDEX or FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW meta tags to CMS Pages.
- Go to Content -> Pages -> Edit Page -> WeltPixel Options -> Enable Index Follow -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include/exclude certain pages from being indexed and followed by Search Engines.
c. Add Canonical meta tag to CMS Pages.
- Go to Content -> Pages -> Edit Page -> WeltPixel Options -> Canonical Url -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include a Canonical URL to one of your CMS Pages.
- Choose whether to use the Canonical URL as the URL generated for the Sitemap. To do this, set the Use Canonical URL in Sitemap option to Yes.
  You can do this for all CMS Pages from Admin -> WeltPixel -> Sitemap -> Sitemap Settings -> Use Canonical URL in Sitemap for all CMS Pages -> Yes

d. Exclude from sitemap particular Product Pages you do not want indexed in search engines
- Go to Admin -> Catalog -> Products -> Edit Product -> WeltPixel Options -> Exclude from Sitemap -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to exclude certain Product Pages from sitemap. Ex: maybe you have a lookbook where your products can be purchased using a quick view functionality and you don’t want to sell the products individually on separate product pages, in this case you can exclude that particular product pages from sitemap indexation.
e. Add INDEX/NOINDEX or FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW meta tags to Product Pages.
- Go to Admin -> Catalog -> Products -> Edit Product -> WeltPixel Options -> Enable Index Follow -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include/exclude certain Product Pages from being indexed and followed by Search Engines.
f. Add Canonical meta tag to Product Pages.
- Go to Admin -> Catalog -> Products -> Edit Product -> WeltPixel Options -> Canonical Url -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include a Canonical URL to one of your Product Pages.
- Choose whether to use the Canonical URL as the URL generated for the Sitemap. To do this, set the Use Canonical URL in Sitemap option to Yes.
  You can do this for all Product Pages from Admin -> WeltPixel -> Sitemap -> Sitemap Settings -> Use Canonical URL in Sitemap for all Product Pages -> Yes

g. Exclude from sitemap particular Category Pages you do not want indexed in search engines
- Go to Products -> Categories -> Select Category -> WeltPixel Options -> Exclude from Sitemap -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to exclude certain Category Pages from sitemap. Ex: You may want to include in sitemap only level 2 categories and exclude level 1 categories in order for clients to land on a more segmented category.
h. Add INDEX/NOINDEX or FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW meta tags to Category Pages.
- Go to Admin -> Catalog -> Categories -> Edit Category -> WeltPixel Options -> Enable Index Follow -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include/exclude certain Product Pages from being indexed and followed by Search Engines.
i. Add Canonical meta tag to Category Pages.
- Go to Admin -> Catalog -> Categories -> Edit Category -> WeltPixel Options -> Canonical Url -> Yes
  This option is useful when you want to include a Canonical URL to one of your Category Pages.
- Choose whether to use the Canonical URL as the URL generated for the Sitemap. To do this, set the Use Canonical URL in Sitemap option to Yes.
  You can do this for all Category Pages from Admin -> WeltPixel -> Sitemap -> Sitemap Settings -> Use Canonical URL in Sitemap for all Category Pages -> Yes

j. Add custom URL to sitemap

By default magneto doesn’t add to sitemap custom url that may be still relevant to your business, for example a html page presenting your product. Ex: Weltpixel Pearl Theme is presenation of one of our products but is not included in default Magento sitemap.

By using Google XML custom sitemap URL functionality we’ll be able to add also this link to our dynamically generated sitemap.

Go to WeltPixel -> Sitemap -> Add New Url
- URL - Insert link without base url, ex: /pearl and the link in your sitemap will be www.yourbaseurl.com/pearl
- Updated at - set the time and date when this page was last updated
- Store View - Select in what store view to insert this custom URL in sitemap
- Change Frequency - How frequently the page is likely to change. This value provides general information to search engines
- Priority - The priority of the URL relative to other URLs on your site. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0
- Woohoo, the sitemap is configured!

Change Log.

What’s new in v.1.14.9 - November 26, 2024

New Feature: The extension now comes with two new Magento Admin configuration options that allow for setting INDEX/FOLLOW (or NOINDEX/NOFOLLOW) values for Category and Search Pages with Layered Navigation Filters applied. This increases the extension's SEO optimization capabilities.
Added minor Magento Admin adjustments to the module status section for increased clarity and compatibility with server-side Social Pixel addons.

What’s new in v.1.14.7 - October 11, 2024

Compatibility: Introduced compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.7-p3, 2.4.6-p8, 2.4.5-p10 and 2.4.4-p11 versions, which come with critical security adjustments for the platform. Magento 2 merchants are urged to upgrade to the latest patches ASAP.
Added various code updates for increased security around the licensing functionality as well as the Help Center and WeltPixel Developer Magento Admin sections.

What’s new in v.1.14.5 - August 23, 2024

Compatibility: Introduced compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.7-p2, 2.4.6-p7, 2.4.5-p9 and 2.4.4-p10 versions, which come with critical security adjustments for the platform. Magento 2 merchants are urged to upgrade to the latest patches ASAP.
Fixed an error that would sometimes be thrown on Product and Category Pages when using the extension's Meta Tags functionality. This was later discovered to be caused by a conflict, but the adjustment remains as a way to ensure the particular error is bypassed for UX purposes.

What’s new in v.1.14.3 - June 20, 2024

Compatibility: Introduced compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.7-p1, 2.4.6-p6, 2.4.5-p8, 2.4.4-p9 versions, which come with critical security adjustments for the platform. Magento 2 merchants are urged to upgrade to the latest patches ASAP.
New Feature: Added a new section in the Magento Admin that checks to make sure the latest product version is installed and notifies in case an update is available, as well as a button that allows for new features to be requested.

What’s new in v.1.14.1 - April 19, 2024

Fixed an error that would sometimes be thrown on the frontend when enabling and using the extension's INDEX/FOLLOW functionality. This would only be the case on CMS pages.
Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.7 release, as well as newly released 2.4.6-p5, 2.4.5-p7 & 2.4.4-p8 Security Patches.
Confirmed compatibility with PHP 8.3 on the Magento 2.4.7 release. PHP 8.2 is also supported for this Magento version.
Added security improvements to the Backend module's license verification process.

What’s new in v.1.11.21 - January 19, 2024

Fixed an error that would be thrown in the WeltPixel -> Extensions Version admin section when a module's composer.json file was missing the version node.

What’s new in v.1.11.19 - October 19, 2023

Fixed an error related to PHP 8 that would sometimes be thrown upon attempting to generate an XML Sitemap via the Magento Admin section with the extension enabled.
Optimized the license verification process for increased Magento Admin performance, as well as to account for licensing server downtimes.
Fixed an issue that would sometimes result in an error being thrown when using older PHP versions, such as PHP 7.4.
Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.4.6-p3, 2.4.5-p5, and 2.4.4-p6 Security Patches.

What’s new in v.1.11.17 - June 28, 2023

New Feature: Added the ability to choose whether to use the Canonical URL generated by the extension as the Canonical URL for the XML Sitemap. This applies to Products, Categories and CMS Pages.
New Feature: The extension now automatically adds the Magento Base URL to the Canonical URL configured via the settings for Products, Categories and CMS Pages.
Fixed an issue that would cause two Canonical URL tags to be added when using the Ajax Infinite Scroll extension's Canonical URL feature as well. The URL added by the Infinite Scroll module now takes precedence.
Fixed a bug that caused Sitemap URLs to be generated incorrectly when Magento's Use Categories Path for Product URLs setting was enabled.
Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento Security Patch releases 2.4.6-p1, 2.4.5-p3 and 2.4.4-p4.
Fixed an error related to PHP 8.2 that would show when accessing the WeltPixel Debugger.
Added .localdev as a universally accepted licensing domain.

What’s new in v.1.11.15 - March 22, 2023

Fixed an error that would sometimes be thrown in the WeltPixel Debugger, depending on various server permissions.
Added compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.6 and 2.4.5-p2 versions.

What’s new in v.1.11.11 - November 23, 2022

Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento Security Patch releases 2.4.5-p1 and 2.4.4-p2.

What’s new in v.1.11.7 - September 1, 2022

Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.5 and 2.4.4-p1 versions.
Updated installation/upgrade scripts to use data patches.

What’s new in v.1.11.1 - April 25, 2022

Fixed an incorrect licensing message on B2B Magento Enterprise instances which would display when an invalid license was entered.
Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.4 and 2.3.7-p3 versions as well as PHP 8.1.

What’s new in v.1.10.17 - October 22, 2021

Confirmed compatibility with the latest Magento 2.4.3-p1 and 2.3.7-p2 versions.

What’s new in v.1.10.15 - August 31, 2021

Fixed an incompatibility related to the new Canonical/INDEX/NOINDEX settings with the Magento Flat Catalog which resulted in an error that prevented reindexing.
Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.4.3, 2.4.2-p2 and 2.3.7-p1 versions.
Added .localhost as an accepted domain termination for the licensing process.

What’s new in v.1.10.11 - July 7, 2021

New feature: Added options to include INDEX/NOINDEX and FOLLOW/NOFOLLOW meta tags to Product Pages, Category Pages and CMS Pages for improved SEO performance.
New feature: Added an option to include a Canonical meta tag to Product Pages, Category Pages and CMS Pages for improved SEO performance.
Added improvments to the WeltPixel Developer Magento Admin section. Latest Cron Jobs now lists the last 100 executed Cron Jobs.

What’s new in v.1.10.9 - May 18, 2021

Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.3.7 and 2.4.2-p1 versions.

What’s new in v.1.10.7 - March 26, 2021

Fixed a popup display issue that occurred when deleting a record from the Magento Admin.
Added compatibility for latest versions of MySql and MariaDB.
Excluded Magento 2.0.x - 2.2.x from new features and fixes starting with this release.
Adjusted WeltPixel Developer section comments.

What’s new in v.1.10.5 - February 12, 2021

Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.4.2 version.
Added additional backend versioning verifications.
Backend module code optimizations.

What’s new in v.1.10.1 - October 22, 2020

Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.4.1 version.

What’s new in v.1.10.0 - August 10, 2020

Confirmed compatibility with the newly released Magento 2.4.0 version.

What’s new in v.1.9.8 - July 6, 2020

Whitelisted domain for Content Security Policies introduced in Magento 2.3.5.

What’s new in v.1.9.7 - May 7, 2020

Confirmed compatibility with Magento 2.3.5.
Implemented small Backend performance optimizations.
Added nxcli.net (Nexcess temporary URL) as a valid domain in the licensing process.
Added an option in the Developer section to allow for switching Magento's CSP between "report-only" and "restrict".

What’s new in v.1.9.6 - April 9, 2020

Fixed a Backend issue on Magento Commerce whereby the Category Schedule functionality was not working properly.

What’s new in v.1.9.5 - March 10, 2020

Added backend Google reCaptcha compatibility for Magento 2.3.x

What’s new in v.1.9.4 - February 5, 2020

Code enhancements for increased security. Changed User Group info collection method.
Confirmed compatibility for Magento 2.3.4.

What’s new in v.1.9.1 - October 16, 2019

Confirmed compatibility with the latst Magento 2.3.3 version.
Included the WeSupply Toolbox integration extension - Proactive Notifications Email & SMS, Returns & RMA, Store Locator, Delivery Date Estimate, Logistics Analytics, NPS & CSAT score. Get Free on-boarding and launch within 24 hours.

What’s new in v.1.9.0 - July 18, 2019

Confirmed compatibility with Magento 2.3.2.
Added HTTPS endpoint for licensing process.

What’s new in v.1.8.5 - June 7, 2019

Small performance improvements.

What’s new in v.1.8.4 - April 25, 2019

Added PHP version in the WeltPixel Developer Section.

What’s new in v.1.8.3 - April 3rd, 2019

Confirmed compatibility for Magento 2.3.1.

What’s new in v.1.8.2 - January 24, 2019

Helpcenter adjustment, removed zendesk iframe and added a simple link to our Support Center in order to avoid any potential conflicts with other admin js added by 3rd party extensions.
Fix for multiple rewritten ImageFactory classes, rewrite check validity, rewrite checks optimizations.

What’s new in v.1.8.0 - December 8, 2018

Fixed missing change_frequency bug from latest Magento 2.2.x versions.
Compatibility adjustments for Magento 2.1.16/2.2.7/2.3.0.
PHP 7.2 compatibility added.
As Magento 2.3 comes with major core changes, we have provided a different set of files in order to achieve the best performance on each version.

What’s new in v.1.7.5 - October 24, 2018

Added detailed error messages for invalid licenses for an easier identification of the cause.
License improvements, added *.magento.cloud as a valid test domain for Enterprise Cloud environments. Now both ‘magentosite.cloud’ and ‘magneto.cloud’ can be used for testing purpose with the production domain license.

What’s new in v.1.7.4 - September 25, 2018

Admin menu styling to fit screen size 1366px.
Fix for production mode with merged JS - missing color pallet display now fixed

What’s new in v.1.7.3 - August 23, 2018

License improvements, adding *.magento.cloud as a valid test domain.

What’s new in v.1.7.2 - August 2, 2018

Fixed admin random logout issue.
Licensing improvements, allowing 3 letter domain as valid domain.

What’s new in v.1.7.1 - July 12, 2018

Compatibility with Magento 2.2.5 both Open Source & Commerce Cloud B2B.
Added domain.test & [any_subdomain].domain.test to the list of valid urls for staging/development environments. Added domain validation with port number included for licensing purpose.
Added licensing compatibility with Magento B2B.

What’s new in v.1.7.0 - July 5, 2018

Added option to enable/disable WeltPixel admin notifications.
Show store and server related information under debugging tab: Magento Mode, Magento Edition, Server User, Magento Installation Path, Current server time, Latest cron jobs.
Added licensing, license key needs to be generated under weltpixel.com account for purchased product, based on domain name and added under your magento installation.

What’s new in v.1.6.4 - May 16, 2018

Compatibility with Magento 2.2.4, logger broken reference fix, changed to rewrite from plugin.

What’s new in version 1.6.0 - March 1st, 2018

Changing sitemap attribute to ‘not required’ for categories and products in order to avoid catalog integration with external systems like ERPs.

What’s new in v.1.5.8 - January 12, 2018

Added version control for installed WeltPixel modules, including latest version check.

What’s new in v.1.5.7 - December 14, 2017

Added Support Center functionality in Magento Admin.
Added Debugger functionality, checks for rewrites and points potential issues.
Admin module name changes

What’s new in version 1.5.3 - September 20, 2017

Table prefix error fix.
Menu and ACL restructuring.
Magento Enterprise column name change fix.
Compatibility with Magento 2.2 function type compilation fix.
Fix for product, category default exclude sitemap, update try catch.

What’s new in version 1.0.3 - May 16, 2017

Added translations files under /i18n/en_US.csv.

What’s new in v.1.0.2 - March 11, 2017

Fixed table prefix error

What’s new in v.1.0.0 - 01/19/2017

Initial release