Hi Guys,
I wonder whether or not uncheck the “Generate Search Engine Sitemap” in the General setting before drag the SiteMap Plus V3.0 in to my project file.
I am a RW7 user from Japan
I’m guessing @isaiah would be the best source of info on this topic.
1 Like
If I were you, I would go ahead and uncheck the preference in General Settings, add and configure SiteMap Plus, export the site locally and check the sitemap.xml file. Sometimes, simple experiment is all we need to do.
1 Like
Hi Rob, Either unchecked or not, it came out the sitemap.xml file to the export site folder locally. Interesting to me is that after deleted SitemapPlus, check marked Generated Searched Engine Sitemap, it came out the sitemap.xml as well. However, I have no idea, which is the best one. Each one is a different script slightly.
I have been using SitemapPlus for years now and never the built in one. Not because one is better than the other but out of habit - I started using Sitemap Plus long before sitemap was built into RW. The Sitemap plugin has some great features though such as adding priority topazes, or hiding some pages from sitemap. It also gives you a summary of your website so you can quickly check all urls and descriptions…
Hello @Nekomichi,
just as @koles said, its the palette of features which makes SiteMap Plus so useful.
The very basic sitemap the plugin puts put should be similar to the one RapidWeaver puts out when checked the option “Generate Search Engine Sitemap” in the general settings.
If you want more control about your Sitemap, e.g. by hiding specific pages, including blog posts, etc. you should use the SiteMap Plus Plugin.
Happy weaving,
~N
1 Like
By checking the sitemap.xml I meant its content. RW generates that file by itself. So does SiteMap Plus. Just make sure (by checking out contents of this file) that it is the one you prefer to use. As others pointed out, SiteMap Plus generates the more useful version. Then, check/uncheck the preference accordingly.
I usually uncheck site option and use only sitemap plus. It works very well. Sitemap plus is more customizable and I think is better for SEO.
I’m a bit confused here. Is SiteMap Plus still available please guys? I tried googling it and all I came up with was SiteMap by Loghound. Any attempt to download it comes up with a ‘website closed’ page.
Thanks
SiteMap Plus was acquired by Isaiah at Yourhead: http://yourhead.com/sitemap
1 Like
Thanks David. 
I’m looking for some clarification regarding Sitemap Plus
My site is www.odechair.com
Using Sitemap Plus, Webmaster Tools tells me that my sitemap.xml file includes 35 indexed entries out of a total of 39 pages
However, if I use https://www.xml-sitemaps.com to generate the sitemap instead (upload then verify) - then webmaster reports an sitemap.xml file with the maximum 500 entries (it stops at 500)
Confusingly - Google webmaster tools also tells me that I have 1670 indexed pages
So - help me out
A. Why is life so complicated ?
B. Why do I see no signs of logic in these results ?
The sitemap generated by Sitemap Plus is tiny (4k), with only the bare essentials - whereas an externally generated sitemap contains a stack more data (64k) - which presumably much better for SEO ?
Obviously I want to google to see as many pages as possible !
Additionally - in Sitemap Plus, I have “include blog entries” clicked
If I open the sitemap plus xml - there is only one blog page in there and that’s blog/index.html
So - I’m rapidly losing hope that sitemap plus is any use at all !
Help - anyone, Bueller ?
you may need to tag @isaiah from Yourhead to get the answer straight from the source.
There ya go, I did it for you I would assume he will chime in, he’s good about that.
Thanks Scott - I really would like to the bottom of this sitemap malarkey
There’s not one thing about websites that’s straight forward - like SEO voodoo
Out of interest I will now try the built-in sitemap … see how many entries that throws into the xml file
how many pages does your site actually have - curious.
well it’s not that clear as tags for example are typically included as pages in sitemaps as I understand ?
The actual site does in fact have 39 main pages if you dont include 3rd tier pages, blog pages or blog tags as pages
Sitemap (RW) shows hundreds of entries - haven’t counted them yet - though it definitely includes blog pages
Sitemap Plus shows 39 and does NOT include blog pages even when asked to
Sitemap (RW plug-in) gives me 420 entries in my xml file (includes blog pages and blog tags as entries)
I’m inclined to think that this (RW) is the better tool at this stage - of course none of this is scientific or tested with any al understanding of the issues : )
… but I think it’s fair to say that sitemap Plus has been ignored for some years now dev wise ?
Comments welcome
Sitemap hell
Although the sitemap produced by Rapidweaver’s own plug-in seems to have included all the necessary page info …
… it sadly fails Google’s verify test
It has parsing errors (not accepted by Google’s webmaster tools)
Does anyone hate computers as much as I do ?
After my extensive white-coat and clipboard scientific research, my conclusion is that both RW’s sitemap and YH’s Sitemap Plus are flawed
Of course your milage may differ. I’m forever told how important Sitemaps are - so I’m going back to …
https://www.xml-sitemaps.com
They produce a comprehensive sitemap file, including all your blog data … and are parsed by Google without errors !!!
Would love to hear what they various dev say about these matters
This stuff really should be bang-on right - makes me worry about Rapidweaver
J`bob