WP Meta SEO: XML and HTML Sitemaps

1. XML sitemap generation

WP Meta SEO comes with a tool that generates XML sitemaps and HTML sitemaps. The main purpose of the XML sitemaps is for them to be added to the Google Search Console in order to index pages faster and better. Access the sitemap tool using the "Sitemap" menu.

Then you will get the configuration screen and several tabs to select the content you want to add to your sitemap.

By default, all your menus are selected as a sitemap source and you get button to load your XML and HTML sitemaps. Among the options you can:

Add additional WordPress content to your sitemaps, such as WordPress categories, tags or author posts
For the HTML sitemap you can select the number of columns to display in your content, from 1 to 3
The page where you want to load your HTML sitemap content. By default a page is created but you can select an existing page
Add a link to the sitemap in the robots.txt. It's helpful for search engines that don't have a tool to access to your XML sitemap's URL
Add a copy of your sitemap at the root of your WordPress installation. This is the location that is crawled by default by search engines and 3rd party SEO tools
Core sitemap: Enable WordPress core sitemap.

To select a sitemap source, navigate through the tabs and check the menu, sub-menus, post or page that you want.

The ADDON also includes the possibility to add custom post types like WooCommerce as a source, along custom URLs

2. HTML sitemap generation

For the HTML sitemap you also have an option to select the number of columns that you want to display in your sitemap menus, posts or pages.

If you update any content, you need to click the Regenerate and save sitemaps button to update your sitemaps.

The plugin addon also comes with some additional themes: Accordion layout and tabbed layouts.

3. Google Search Console integration

WP Meta SEO gives the possibility to automatically connect to the Google Search Console. In order to use this feature, you should get Google Client ID and Google Client Secret. Please go here for more details.

Note that the JavaScript origins is https://yourdomain.com/

and Redirect URls is https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=metaseo_settings&task=wpms_gsc&tab=settings

Then go back to WP Meta SEO settings > Search console settings, paste the Google Client ID and Google Client Secret in the corresponding fields.

Click on Save and Connect button and follow the next steps to connect your Google account.

After that, you can choose your profile and remember to click on Save changes button.

You're done! You can connect to another account by clicking on Reauthentication with Google button.

If you have not enabled Google Search Console API, please go to APIs & Services > Library, search and enable it.

4. Sitemap link check

If you've got a subscription for the WP Meta SEO Addon, you can also check your sitemap links with the sitemap checker tool.

After clicking the button, the list of URLs will be displayed on your screen.

The result is an AJAX-powered list of pages that are present in the sitemap with their status and other information. You can sort by different columns to focus on a specific group, and subsequently fix any problems.