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4. Configure XML sitemaps

 Configure XML sitemaps
======================

Updated 2 weeks ago · 2 min read

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What is a sitemap?
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A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website and provides information about their organisation. It serves as an index for search engines, helping them understand the hierarchy of your site's content and discover all pages available for indexing. This plays a critical role in SEO.

Sitemaps should be configured following the hierarchy of navigation, top-level navigation first, followed by second-level navigation — as this reflects how users interact with and discover content on the site.

Configure Simple XML Sitemap
----------------------------

1. In the menu, click the **Configuration** icon.
2. Select **Search and metadata** from the dropdown.
3. Select **Simple XML Sitemap**. This opens a page where you can configure, add content to, and generate XML sitemaps.
4. Use the available tabs to configure your sitemap:

    - **Sitemaps** — view the current status of Simple XML Sitemaps, rebuild the queue to check for content changes (new, updated, or deleted content), and view or create sitemap variants.
    - **Settings** — configure whether sitemaps regenerate during cron runs, and customise the default base URL for sitemap links.
    - **Inclusion** — specify which entities and content types to include in the sitemap.
    - **Search engines** — configure which search engines automatically receive sitemap submissions.

![](/storage/Ugn9SDcLyuTa7VWITqBWKdrFBAt2lMXrwtbyd8IX.png)

Configure menu-based sitemap
----------------------------

1. Navigate to the sitemap configuration page at `admin/config/search/sitemap`.
2. Review the items prefixed with **Menu**.
3. Select the items applicable to your site.
4. Click **Save configuration**.

> 💡 **Note:** Changes may not appear immediately — they will be applied on the next cron run, which is scheduled hourly.

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Related articles
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- [**SEO and meta tag configuration**](/articles/seo-and-meta-tag-configuration) — Configuring meta titles and descriptions for individual pages
- [**Search configuration**](/articles/search-configuration) — How District indexes and displays search results

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