Out of scope

• Teaching search engine indexing fundamentals; this guide focuses on AegisSitemap features and workflows
• Replacing full SEO suites (AegisSitemap focuses on sitemaps + robots controls)

Exclude private directories (5–10 minutes)

1. In the Sitemap tab, use Folder Exclusions to exclude path fragments
2. In the Robots tab, add directory exclusions if you want crawlers guided away from those paths
3. Re-check sitemap endpoints to confirm excluded URLs are removed

Enable XML Sitemap

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Enable Sitemap.

Enables dynamic XML sitemap generation for your WordPress site. When enabled, AegisSitemap generates sitemap endpoints on-demand and updates them automatically when content changes.

Configuration

1. Enable XML sitemap output.
2. Confirm your Sitemap URL and Sitemap Index URL are visible on the left panel.
3. Open the listed sitemap endpoints to verify they load (HTTP 200).

Sitemap Index

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Sitemap Index.

Generates a sitemap index file that references multiple child sitemaps. Content is split into smaller sitemap files to stay within search engine limits and improve crawl efficiency.

Configuration

1. Enable /sitemap_index.xml if your site has more than a few hundred URLs.
2. Open the index URL and confirm it lists child sitemap files (posts, pages, taxonomies).

Maximum URLs Per Sitemap

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Max URLs per Sitemap.

Controls the number of URLs included in each sitemap file. Once the limit is reached, a new child sitemap is created automatically.

Configuration

1. Set a max URL count per sitemap file (defaults are safe for most sites).
2. If you have a large site, keep files smaller to reduce crawl time and memory spikes.

Include Featured Images

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Images.

Adds featured images to XML sitemap entries. Image metadata is appended to sitemap URLs to improve image discovery.

Configuration

1. Enable featured images in XML output if your theme uses featured images for posts/pages.
2. Re-check a sitemap file and confirm entries appear where applicable.

Include Attached Images

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Attached Images.

Includes media attachments referenced in posts and pages. Attachment URLs are added as additional sitemap entries.

Configuration

1. Enable attached images only if you need deeper image coverage (large sites may crawl slower).
2. Prefer featured images for performance on high‑volume sites.

Video Sitemap

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Video Sitemap.

Generates a video-specific sitemap when video content is detected. Video metadata is exposed in a dedicated sitemap endpoint.

Configuration

1. Enable /video-sitemap.xml if you publish embedded/hosted video and want video discovery.
2. Validate the endpoint loads and your content actually contains video metadata.

News Sitemap

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → News Sitemap.

Enables Google News–compatible sitemap output. Recent news-type content is added to a dedicated news sitemap.

Configuration

1. Enable /news-sitemap.xml only if your content is eligible for Google News and your site runs a news workflow.
2. Confirm the endpoint loads and that included content matches your news criteria.

HTML Sitemap

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → HTML Sitemap.

Creates a human-readable HTML sitemap. A public HTML page lists indexed content for users and crawlers.

Configuration

1. Enable the HTML sitemap listing if you want a human-friendly sitemap page (and optional internal navigation hub).
2. Use the displayed HTML Sitemap URL in menus or footers if desired.

Folder Exclusions

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Folder Exclusions.

Excludes specific URL paths from sitemap output. Any URL containing a defined fragment is skipped during sitemap generation.

Configuration

1. Add one folder/path fragment per line in Folder Exclusions.
2. Use exclusions to keep private folders, temp uploads, or sensitive paths out of sitemap URLs.
3. Save and re-check a sitemap file to confirm excluded paths no longer appear.

Post Type Inclusion

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Post Types.

Controls which post types appear in sitemaps. Only selected post types are queried and included.

Configuration

1. Select which post types should appear in the sitemap (Posts, Pages, and other supported types).
2. If you run WooCommerce, product-related types can be included via Plugins or Post Types settings.
3. Save and confirm the generated endpoints list the expected post types.

Taxonomy Inclusion

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Taxonomies.

Controls which taxonomies are indexed. Selected taxonomies generate their own sitemap endpoints.

Configuration

1. Select which taxonomies to include (Categories, Tags, etc.).
2. If you don’t want taxonomy archives indexed, disable them here rather than relying on robots alone.

Ping Search Engines on Publish

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Sitemap → Ping on Publish.

Automatically notifies search engines when content is updated. Sitemap ping requests are sent to supported engines.

Configuration

1. Enable ping on publish if you want faster discovery when new content goes live.
2. Use responsibly; high-frequency sites should avoid aggressive pinging.

Enable Robots.txt Management

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Robots → Enable Robots.

Enables robots.txt control inside WordPress. Robots rules are generated dynamically and served virtually or physically.

Configuration

1. Enable robots.txt management in the Robots tab.
2. Review the Robots.txt Preview panel before writing a physical file.

Write Physical robots.txt File

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Robots → Write robots.txt.

Writes a robots.txt file to the site root. A physical file is created when filesystem permissions allow.

Configuration

1. Enable “Write a physical robots.txt file to the site root (ABSPATH)” if your host allows writes.
2. Check the Robots.txt File Status box to confirm it’s writable and whether a file exists.

Robots Optimization

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Robots → Optimization.

Applies safe default crawl optimizations. Blocks low-value URLs based on Google best practices.

Configuration

1. Enable safe default optimizations to protect crawl budget (recommended for most sites).
2. Review excluded directories and adjust only if you have a specific requirement.

Robots Directory Exclusions

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Robots → Excluded Directories.

Blocks directories from crawler access. Disallow rules are generated for each defined path.

Configuration

1. Add directory patterns to disallow (one item per entry).
2. Keep /wp-admin/ and common system paths disallowed as a baseline.

Custom Robots Rules

Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap → Robots → Custom Rules.

Allows manual robots.txt directives. Custom rules are appended after generated rules.

Configuration

1. Enable “Append custom robots.txt rules” if you need advanced directives.
2. Paste rules into the custom block and validate syntax in the Preview panel before saving.

AegisSitemap: Settings and stored options (inventory)

Advanced Where: WP Admin → AegisSitemap

Configuration

1. Use Tools/License to validate license status (if applicable).
2. Use the inventory list to confirm which features are enabled and which endpoints are generated.

Symptom: Sitemap URL returns 404

Likely meaning: sitemap output is disabled, permalinks/rewrite rules are not flushed, or a security/caching layer is blocking the endpoint.

1. Open AegisSitemap → Sitemap and confirm XML output is enabled.
2. Confirm sitemap endpoints listed in the UI match what you’re opening.
3. Save permalinks (Settings → Permalinks → Save) to flush rewrite rules.
4. Temporarily disable aggressive caching/WAF rules for /sitemap* paths and retry.

Symptom: robots.txt does not update

Likely meaning: robots manager is disabled, or the host blocks writing to the site root.

1. Enable robots.txt management in the Robots tab and Save.
2. Check Robots.txt File Status to see if a physical file exists and is writable.
3. If the host blocks root writes, rely on the virtual robots.txt served by WordPress.

Symptom: Content type is missing from the sitemap index

Likely meaning: the post type/taxonomy is disabled, has zero published items, or is excluded by rules.

1. Confirm the Post Types and Taxonomies checkboxes include the missing item.
2. Confirm you have published content for that type.
3. Review Folder Exclusions and remove any accidental exclusion fragments.
4. Reload /sitemap_index.xml and verify the endpoint is now listed.