SiteMapLab — Documentation

Automatic /sitemap.xml for Joomla 5 and 6 — zero server configuration required.

SiteMapLab generates a standards-compliant XML sitemap from your menu items, articles, and categories and serves it at /sitemap.xml via a system plugin. No .htaccess edits, no rewrite rules. It also includes an HTML sitemap page, a URL exclusion manager, and optional IndexNow notifications for Bing and Yandex.

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Requirements

• Joomla 5.0 or 6.0
• PHP 8.1 or later
• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.4+
• Any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)

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What’s Included

• com_sitemaplab — Component with admin dashboard, exclusion manager, and component options
• plg_system_sitemaplab — System plugin that serves /sitemap.xml and injects the sitemap link tag into every page

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Installation

1. Log in to your Joomla administrator.
2. Go to System → Install → Extensions.
3. Upload pkg_sitemaplab-1.0.3.zip using the Upload Package File tab.
4. Click Install.
5. The System — SiteMapLab plugin is enabled automatically. If you have turned it off, the SiteMapLab dashboard shows a warning — re-enable it in Extensions → Plugins.

To uninstall, go to System → Manage → Extensions, find SiteMapLab Package, and click Uninstall. All SiteMapLab tables are removed automatically.

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Getting Started

Step 1 — Verify your sitemap

After installing, visit https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. You should see a valid XML sitemap containing your published menu items, articles, and categories. The sitemap is generated and cached automatically on first visit.

Step 2 — Submit to search engines

Copy your sitemap URL from the SiteMapLab dashboard and submit it to:

• Google Search Console — go to Sitemaps in the left menu and paste the URL
• Bing Webmaster Tools — go to Sitemaps and paste the URL

Step 3 — Add an HTML sitemap page (optional)

1. Go to Menus → Add New Menu Item.
2. Set the Menu Item Type to SiteMapLab → HTML Sitemap.
3. Save. Visitors can now access a formatted sitemap page on your site.

The HTML sitemap lists your pages (as a menu tree) and articles (grouped by category) using the same rules and exclusions as the XML sitemap, so both always show the same content.

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Content Sources

SiteMapLab collects URLs from four sources. Each can be toggled on or off in Component Options → Content Sources.

Menu Items

All published front-end menu items a guest visitor can see are included, provided the article, category or component they point to is available. Login, registration and similar system pages, external URL items and pages set to noindex are left out, and alias items are listed at their target’s URL. The homepage receives a higher priority (1.0) and daily change frequency by default; all other menu items use the default settings.

Articles

Published Joomla articles are included if they are reachable via a menu item, or a menu item for their category or any parent category. Articles in unpublished or restricted categories, and articles set to noindex, are left out. Articles with no navigable path from the menu are excluded — these would not be crawlable by search engines anyway.

Content Categories

Published content categories that have a menu item, or sit below a category that has one, are included.

All URLs are built by Joomla’s site router, so they match the links on your site exactly, including article IDs when Remove IDs from URLs is off, nested category paths and the SEF plugin’s trailing slash setting.

Extensions

Other TDCLab extensions — and any third-party extension that includes a SiteMapLab integration plugin — can add their own URLs to your sitemap automatically. Toggle Include Extensions off if you want to exclude all extension URLs.

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URL Exclusion Manager

The exclusion manager lets you prevent specific URLs from appearing in your sitemap. Go to Components → SiteMapLab → Exclusions and click New.

Each rule has three match types:

• Exact Match — removes only the URL that matches exactly (e.g. /thank-you)
• Prefix Match — removes all URLs that start with the given path (e.g. /members removes all URLs under that section)
• Contains — removes all URLs that contain the given string anywhere in the URL

After adding or editing exclusions, click Clear Cache & Regenerate on the dashboard to apply them immediately.

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Search Engine Notifications

SiteMapLab can automatically notify search engines when content is saved. Go to Component Options → Search Engine Notification and enable Auto-notify on Content Save.

IndexNow (Bing & Yandex)

Enable IndexNow and enter your IndexNow API key. Generate a free key at indexnow.org. Each time an article is saved, SiteMapLab pings Bing and Yandex instantly — no waiting for the next scheduled crawl.

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Component Options

Sitemap Settings

• Cache Lifetime — How long the generated sitemap is cached before regenerating. Options: Disabled, 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours. Default: 24 hours.
• Default Change Frequency — The changefreq value applied to all URLs except the homepage. Default: Weekly.
• Default Priority — The priority value (0.0–1.0) applied to all URLs except the homepage. Default: 0.5.
• Homepage Change Frequency — The changefreq for the homepage entry. Default: Daily.
• Homepage Priority — The priority for the homepage entry. Default: 1.0.

Content Sources

• Include Menu Items — Include published front-end menu items. Default: Yes.
• Include Articles — Include published Joomla articles. Default: Yes.
• Include Categories — Include published content categories. Default: Yes.
• Include Extensions — Include URLs contributed by SiteMapLab integration plugins. Default: Yes.
• Exclude System Pages — Leave out login, registration, password reset, profile, privacy request, search and form menu items. Default: Yes.

Search Engine Notification

• Auto-notify on Content Save — Ping search engines and clear the sitemap cache when an article is saved. Default: No.
• IndexNow (Bing, Yandex) — Notify via the IndexNow protocol. Requires Auto-notify to be enabled. Default: Yes.
• IndexNow API Key — Your API key from indexnow.org.