9.6 Sitemaps

[lesliekirk]

A couple of comments - the How-To docs focus on creating a Google Shopping Feed and although creating a Sitemap is fairly simple, it was neglected in the documentation. Something that is noticed is lacking in the sitemap creation it the ability to pick and choose which Pages to be included or excluded in the sitemap.xml file. It's all or nothing. Unless I have missed something, I suppose I'll have to add this to the "wish list" Everything else seemed straight forward, if you know about Sitemaps.

[Brennan]

It is covered here: http://docs.miva.com/how-to-guides/c...google-sitemap

There is a new item called sitemap_exclude which when turned on for a page will cause that page to be excluded form all sitemaps. Here is the default page exclude list but you can also add your own:

CADE	Customer Address: Edit
CADA	Customer Address: Add
CABK	Customer Address Book
ACLN	Customer Account
ORDS	Order Status
ORDH	Order History List
OPAY	Checkout: Payment Information
OSEL	Checkout: Shipping/Payment Selection
OUSM	Checkout: Upsell Product (Multiple)
OUS1	Checkout: Upsell Product (Single)
UATR	Upsell: Missing Product Attributes (Single)
UATM	Upsell: Missing Product Attributes (Multiple)
RGFT	Redeem Gift Certificate
ABAL	Customer Account Balance
ACED	Customer Edit
CEML	Change Email Address
CPWD	Change Password
PROD	Product Display
CTGY	Category Display

[lesliekirk]

Sure would be nice to make those selections (exclusions) right at the create sitemap screen.

[Donna]

I just created the sitemap. It says this at the top of the page:This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

Is this ok or is there something else I should do?

Thank you,
Donna
www.toscanijewelry.com

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Yes, that is fine. You are looking an an XML doc in a browser that is designed for HTML. The XML site map is designed to be read by machines.

[Donna]

Thank you!
Donna

[Datagg]

Is this worth implementing over Bruce's Moogle, or are they the same outcome.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Currently, the new site map is virtually the same, but doesn't handle images (though I imagine you could add that in yourself) and doesn't automatically let search engines know you are using a sitemap...Not big deals but differences.However, you might also want to migrate to the built in system, cause as a free module, we probably can't justify making any significant updates should changes arise that make it non-working. (If there was enough call for it, we'd consider charging for it and maintaining it, but in the current environment of Miva, that again, doesn't seem likely.)

[Datagg]

Thanks Bruce. Hopefully they add image output to built in setup. Just a heads up for those who allow the system to auto alter your robots text for sitemap... It adds an https:// entry for it in there which im not sure is correct format for sitemap. Please if someone could confirm if a https:// should be included. Thanks

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

This is probably incorrect but not for the reason you seem to suggest. The URL protocol should match your store. So, if you have your store set to HTTPS always, the site map should as well. If you don't, then no, the site map should use the non-secure protocol. (Google has suggested it prefers HTTPS for ALL site pages, but that's actually a separate issue from the site map.)