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-1.0.1.zip using the Upload Package File tab.
4. Click Install.
5. Go to Extensions → Plugins, search for SiteMapLab, and enable the System — SiteMapLab plugin.

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 enabling the system plugin, 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.

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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, publicly accessible front-end menu items are included. 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 category menu item. 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 dedicated menu item are included.

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.

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.

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Changelog

v1.0.1 (April 2026)

• Fixed extension plugin URLs not appearing in sitemap
• Fixed /administrator/ URLs appearing when regenerated from admin dashboard
• Fixed PHP errors during plugin loading silently aborting extension URL collection
• Fixed dashboard stats showing zero after clearing cache
• Added support for third-party extensions via the sitemaplab plugin group

v1.0.0 (April 2026)

• Initial release
• XML sitemap generation from menu items, articles, and content categories
• HTML sitemap front-end view
• Automatic /sitemap.xml serving via system plugin
• Sitemap <link> tag injected into every page
• URL exclusion manager with exact, prefix, and contains matching
• Configurable cache lifetime, change frequency, and priority
• IndexNow ping support
• Admin dashboard with cache stats
• Sitemap index support for sites with over 50,000 URLs

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Support

For support, documentation updates, and bug reports visit extensions.thedesigncompany.co.nz.

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Licence

SiteMapLab is released under the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later.