XML Sitemap

An XML-formatted sitemap is useful for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

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Last reviewed: June 4, 2024

Overview

An XML formated sitemap can be useful for SEO work. The UBCMS can create this tool automatically for you. Change the page's URL as follows. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CREATE A SITEMAP FIRST.

Note: the longer extension is required for top level sites (e.g. law.buffalo.edu).

  1. Take your normal live URL (confirm this loads in your browser).
    • e.g. https://www.buffalo.edu/president.html
    • e.g. https://www.law.buffalo.edu
  2. Adjust the tail end of the URL from abc.html to abc.sitemap.xml.
  3. If that doesn't work, try changing the URL from abc.html to abc/jcr:content.sitemap.xml. This is also required for top level sites (e.g. Nursing, Law, Management).
  4. If that still does not work, double check your page is not set as 'Hide in Google XML Sitemap' in its Properties.

Your sitemap may extend beyond your own site.

This xml index is built from all relative paths it finds from the starting page. Depending on how your site is constructed, links on your pages or in the navigation that references other UBCMS sites (anything that is set using the finder tool as "/content...") will include them in the sitemap.  Absolute paths (https://...) are ignored.

Your sitemap may miss some of your pages.

These pages will be ignored:

  • Pages set as 'hide in Google XML sitemap' in Properties
  • Secure pages.
  • Pages that have no direct path to them, e.g. if they are set as 'hide in lists' and 'hide in nav'.

If you're having trouble getting the XML Sitemap to work, double check 'Hide in Google XML Sitemap' is not set in the page's Properties.

Set Up the Site Map

Change the page's URL as follows.  The XML sitemap is created automatically by the UBCMS. 

This is independent of the Sitemap component -- you do not need to create a sitemap page first.

  1. Take your normal live URL (confirm this loads in your browser).
  2. Convert it to the equivalent URL with the path information from Author (confirm this loads in your browser).
  3. Adjust the tail end of the URL from XXX.html to XXX.sitemap.xml (no need to activate, this will be visible immediately as a live page).

Example One

Example Two

Please note: any pages that are set as "Hide in Google XML sitemap" in Page Properties will be excluded from this listing.

Alternate Formats

Google Search Console sometimes requires a sitemap to have the format of '...sitename/sitemap.xml' instead of our UBCMS convention of '...sitename.sitemap.xml'. In that situation, the console provides ways to manually submit sitemaps in that format. In the console, look for the Sitemaps Report tool and the Ping tool.

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