How to make an xml sitemap page

Rapidweaver has automatically created a ‘sitemap’ page on my website, but it is html. Not okay with google. How do I make it xml? The language I read on the Google website is way over my head.

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My choices don’t include ‘advanced’.

The screenshots are from RW6. Should be under settings in RW7.

Click on General – you will then find the Advanced setting in the bottom right corner of resulting window (RW 7.3.3).

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I found Advanced. It says html or php. Google wants xml.

The sitemap is always generated in xml. See as example:

https://instacks.com/sitemap.xml

That’s odd. To do a practical experiment, I have disabled SiteMap plugin (from YourHead Software) and enabled the RW’s built-in sitemap. Then, I saved and did a local export and I see the sitemap.xml file in my local folder.

Try to do a local export of all files and see what kind of sitemap file you’ll get.

BTW, you are not supposed to create a separate ‘sitemap’ page yourself – that ends with .html or .php – (unless you know exactly how to do that). This is done automatically by RW, or another sitemap plugin.

P.S. The .html and/or .php Default Extension in Advanced Settings pertains to those pages that are created by yourself.

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It had html in the default extension when I first opened it up. When I made that space blank, this is the window that popped up. I’m not changing the home page from “index” because that has caused other problems at the hosting service in the past with other programs. What now?

I don’t know how to export to a local folder.

Hi, Johnna,

The Default Extension must be specified – either html, if you make only simple static pages or php, if you create pages with some sort of interactivity. The Default Extension will be used for all pages that you create. The pages with interactive plugins or stacks will automatically change their extension to php. Many of us use php for all pages as a default.

To do local export, click File>Export Site in RW menu bar (screenshot). You will be prompted to choose the location (the Desktop may be one of the alternatives to choose) and click ‘Export’. Exporting can take from seconds to minutes – depending on the size of your website.

Open the destination folder and review all the files within. You should see this file:

And remember – the sitemap page is created automatically and it will have the xml extension. If you’ll attempt to create it yourself, it will bear the default extension (either html or php), which you don’t want.

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There are pieces of my website in folders all over my desk top. I opened the one titled sitemap and this is what it shows. What do I do with all the folders? Are they duplicates or if I move them to trash, will my website disappear?

The page that says sitemap.xml, where do I find that on my website, since it looks nothing like the one that appears as the last page of my website?

Now when I click on home or sitemap on my website online, it goes to the folder on my desk top. That can’t be good! How do I reverse this?

It appears that the sitemap is working on google.

How do I make this go back to working properly. I click home on my website online and this is what I get.

In your browser clear out your address bar and type your URL
From your screen print it looks like you have the file on your desktop open, not your online website.

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A link to your website would help.

The file opened when I clicked on home in the navigation of my website, online. When I look at my website on my laptop, it works fine, but on my desk top computer where the Rapidweaver program is, every page of my website comes up from my desktop file. Look at the URL space
.

The URL is www.wholefamilyhealthandnutrition.com Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

I put all those files in one file and put it in the trash. The tab on my internet browser closed by itself, immediately. I opened up Rapidweaver and it’s still there. I went to my website on the internet and it works normally. It’s always frightening when I have difficulties with my website or computer that I’ve never encountered before or don’t understand. Thank you for helping me work through the bugs.:slight_smile:

Sitemap correctly generated:

http://www.wholefamilyhealthandnutrition.com/sitemap.xml