Minor updates and fixes applied

Sunday, 20 December 2015

We've made some minor updates to our spider for the online and windows version of our sitemap generator.

Binary files


Binary files such as Word Document, Adobe PDF, etc. previously just showed the HTTP server response such as "Ok". We now simply show the filename of such files.

Domain names



We have relaxed validation on domain names so it is not essential to use punycode. You can therefore decide which domain name you want to use for your sitemap.

Note for you to use one or more domains with your site you need to ensure you are using relative urls within your site. The spider will only follow urls within the same domain.

Canonical, redirect urls and no index urls

We have resolved the issue where urls and pages with a canonical url were still showing in the sitemap, but without a proper title. The urls no longer appear and the redirect / canonical url are spidered.



Wordpress plugin fix

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

We've made a minor update to our WordPress plugin.

When using a static page for the homepage sitemaps would have a duplicate homepage. This is now fixed.

Note : The sitemap settings (Frequency, priority, etc) for the home page from the XML Sitemap settings page not the page itself.



Sitemap Ping Service Update

Thursday, 29 October 2015

Based on valuable user feedback, over the last week or so we've been making a number of improvements to the ping services as part of ongoing enhancements to the service.

Some users experienced problems with the ping form not being automatically populated after generating their sitemap. We've resolved this so that it now shows all the details about your website ready for pinging.

The form will automatically include website name, RSS and XML Sitemap urls. Just select the services you want to ping and off you go!



As well as this we're making ongoing improvements to performance and reliability, in particular in this release trying to avoid situations where the service would wait indefinitely for a ping service that had not responded or had failed.

You'll also notices some slight improvements to the results page making it a little more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read.


We've also fixed some of the validation problems which prevented you using certain domains and filenames.

As well as updating the sitemap ping service we have also simplified and resolved some issues with the donate buttons.

We hope these improvements improve the overall experience of using our sitemap generator and of course please stay in touch and keep your feedback coming.

WordPress Plugin fixes

Wednesday, 23 September 2015


Since the intial release of our WordPress sitemap generator we've been working hard to test and fix a number of user reported issues. Version 1.2.x has seen a number of fixes to common problems experienced by users sine the release of the first versioning in July of this year.
  • Fix : Unexpected output when activating
  • Fix : Missing "Hourly" update frequency
  • Fix : PHP warnings in sitemaps when in debug mode
  • Fix : invalid sitemap due to default values
Please continue to feedback so that we can continue to itterate and improve the plugin.

WordPress XML Sitemap Generator

Wednesday, 22 July 2015

We're pleased to announce that we have now released our WordPress XML Sitemap Generator Plugin.

It's available to download from our website as zip file so you can upload it to your WordPress website. Once we have completed beta testing we will add it to the WordPress Plugin directory.


Key features inlcude :


  • Support for HTML, RSS and Google XML Sitemap formats.
  • List all your WordPress Pages, Posts, Archives, Authors, Categories and Tags.
  • Unlike some other plugins we also include paged links for posts for Archives, Authors, Categories and Tags.
  • Set global sitemap default values for priority and update frequencies.
  • Another unique feature is that you can set sitemap values for priority and frequency at the category, tag, post and page level and configure inheritance.
  • Automatic daily auto ping when you have updated pages / posts in WordPress.
  • Updates your Robots.txt file with sitemap entries.
  • We also provide a  latest pages / posts RSS feed for the page header.

Easily configure global sitemap settings for your WordPress site
Configure sitemap settings at the post category and tag level
Configure  sitemap settings at the post and page level

As we are currently beta testing this plugin we recommend you use it with caution, especially with important live production websites. As always you should regularly backup your website. Please contact us with any comments, questions, suggestions and bugs.

To find out more and download the plugin please visit our WordPress XML Sitemap Generator Plugin page.

Minor update released

This is  a minor release to address a few issues as well as update the website content. The main fix is  the password reset feature which failed to work if the account had not been confirmed. We have now fixed this and you should be able to reset your password.

WordPress 

We've added some information to the website about the launch of the beta version of our WordPress Sitemap Generator Plugin, which we'll be blogging about separately.

Donate


You may not be aware but we take time out of our personal lives to develop and support XmlSitemapGenerator.org and cover costs out of our own pockets.

With recent increases in popularity we need to raise further funding to help keep the show on the road. If you find the service useful and are able to contribute, every little bit helps to keep the service going and make improvements.

https://xmlsitemapgenerator.org/donate.aspx


Thanks for all your support.

Donate to help keep XML Sitemaps Free

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Xml Sitemap Generator is provided free purely out of the enjoyment of doing it.

We take time out of our personal lives to develop and support it and cover costs out of our own pockets. This includes development, testing, hosting, domains, security certificates and support for :

  • XmlSitemapGenerator.org online XML Sitemap Generator,
  • G-Mapper Windows XML Sitemap Generator and
  • Coming soon WordPress XML Sitemap Generator

With recent increases in popularity we need to raise further funding to help keep the show on the road. If you find the service useful and are able to contribute, every little bit helps towards keeping the show on the road.

Thanks for all your support and we hope you continue to find the service useful.


Make a donation


You can also support us by linking to us and sharing your support on Twitter and facebook. Share the love!

Thanks again

XmlSitemapGenerator.org Team

G-Mapper and XmlSitemapGenerator

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

You may have noticed recently that G-Mapper.co.uk got a makeover which saw the website become mobile friendly and more in line with XmlSitemapGenerator.org.

As part of this continuing alignment and joining of forces to bring you the best online sitemap generator and sitemap generator download we now sharing a blog.

From here on Blog.XmlSitemapgenerator.Org will be presenting posts for both solutions as a common set of tools. As always we'll be tagging up our posts but we'll now have the addition of "G-Mapper", "Online" tags to enable you to easily filter content should you wish to do so.


Each solution will keep it's own website, facebook and twitter feeds which you can subscribe to to get information specific to the service(s) you are most interested in ....


Online sitemap generator


Sitemap generator download



 We hope you like the new arangements and continue to see improvements as the merger prgresses.

User feedback and reviews

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Another selection of user reviews and comments ....

  • "Great, fast service. Awesome!" 

  • "By far the best service I have come across! Going above and beyond all expectations, thank you."

  • "Easy to operate, intuitive interface, quick and efficient. And free of charge. Excellent site and excellent service. I'm a fan."

  • "Works perfect - reliable and quick Support!"

  • "Quick easy and great to have a free service like this, especially for a small business…would like some more info / tutorials / easy guide for advanced options though (especially for non tech folks like me)"

  • "So far the best I have used, very fast, well documented, good guidelines."

  • "Great product, saved a newbie from a lot of work :) Thx!"

  • "No fuss, just enter your website's URL and upload the results. Beaut."

  • "Works really well. Used the filtering folders field and got exactly what I wanted ! Thanks !"

  • "So much easier than the last resource I was using!"

  • "good one will recommend to all my friends!!"


Thanks for all your support. We read all your comments and suggestions which helps improve the service, so keep them coming!

How we use your email address

Monday, 2 February 2015

We occasionally get questions about how we use your email address. We do already spell this out in our EULA (End User Licence Agreement), however as with a lot of similar documents people don't always read them and blindly click accept.

We thought we would write a brief article to highlight this particular area.

Most users will only receive 2 or maybe 3 emails over a number of days as they go through the process of creating a sitemap, downloading it and then finally reviewing our service.

If you go through the process quickly or submit a number of sitemap requests you may find a number of emails arrive in fairly close proximity.

What our EULA says:


We do not disclose your email address to 3rd parties.
You will receive a number of emails to guide you through the process.
You should not receive any further emails once the standard process is complete.
These include (but not necessarily limited to) :

    Sitemap generation complete.
    Reminder if you did not download.
    Rating reminder.

Most users will only receive a selection of these based on how they interact with the service.
You will receive these emails for each sitemap you generate.
We may email you about important news or updates regarding the service.


Reason 1


The main reason we ask for your email is because sitemaps get queued and at busy times can take a reasonable amount of time to be created. If you navigate away from our website it is likely to be very difficult to get back and download your sitemap.

So when the process is complete we send you a brief email to explain how to download your sitemap.

If you haven't downloaded your sitemap after a few days we'll usually send you a very similar reminder.

Reason 2

Obtaining feedback and engaging new people is key to keeping the service going and free.

Inventively when people are busy publishing their new sitemap they don't always do this and forget. A few days later we send a gentle reminder to ask you if you would mind feeding back and sharing.

We appreciate that to some people this is a bit of a nag, but we don't think it is too much to ask in return for a free service.

People don't always appreciate how important this is to keeping the service up and running. If you share a link, blog and tweet about us to engage more people this directly helps keep the service going and importantly keeps it free.

Contacting you


It's pretty rare we will email you directly for any other reason, in fact at the time of writing this blog we haven't done this in the last  12 months. We sometimes do it when we trial a new service and want to encourage feedback.

The vast majority of all our announcements are by our Twitter and Facebook page as it is easy for users to opt in and out, so we would encourage you to follow and like us to stay up to date.

In summary


In the process of using our sitemap generator we send you a small number of emails to walk you through the process over a number of days.

If you go through the process quickly or submit a number of sitemap requests you may find a number of emails arrive in fairly close proximity.

After you have gone through the process you wont receive any more emails, but we really do appreciate it if you can help us reach more users through Facebook, Twitter and other social media.


Updated version now online

Thursday, 29 January 2015

We've released a minor update to fix a number of minor issues.

Select page title element

 

When we generate HTML and RSS sitemaps we previously used the <title> tag which didn't suit many users. We have now made this configurable and made the default value the <h1> tag. To change this setting use the "more settings" button.



Other fixes

Fix : Unable to edit extensions list
Fix : Validation to allow new top level domains (TLDs)
Fix : Typo on ratings page


Thanks for the continuing feedback. Pleases let us know of any problems and suggestions.

Thanks for all the ratings and reviews

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

We've reached a new milestone with 1000 reviews and ratings. To celebrate here are some of our favourite recent comments ....

"Simply awesome... Would recommend to all"

"Simple, easy, effective.  Now google can see my whole site!"

"Quick and thorough no problem with sitemap on Bing or Google"

"Xml Sitemap Generator .org seems to be far better than other free sitemap generators I have used in the past. It's fast, free, and has more features and options, so I will certainly be using it again."

"Love this service, so fast, no errors....PERFECTION"

"Excellent service, faster than expected!"

"Love this tool. "

"Great site. Easy to use. Quick response. Wonderful experience!"

"Your sitemap service is fast, multifaceted, and user friendly. It is superior to anything I have tried on the net.  Thank you ever so much."

"So glad I found this service, quick easy and best of all free to use."

"Awesome 5 star no doubt about it ..."

"Fantastic!!!...It's perfect and fast and doesn't have any mistake."

"This is really great. You are way ahead of all others out their at a great price. Keep up the great work. So glad I found you. This will definitely help my business and website like no other good."

"Good tool, fully functional and best of all, FREE!"



Happy New Year

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Happy New Year and welcome back after the Christmas / New Years festivities. We hope you managed to secure some time off and are feeling suitably refreshed! Wishing you all the best for 2015!


Happy New Year Card 2015