How To Clean Up XML Sitemap Generated By AIO SEO?
I “discovered” XML Sitemap in AIO SEO recently.
But when I looked there, I wanted to scream – what are all these URLs doing there? There were 97 URLs and only 5 of them were real. Others were some cropped images. And I did not have slightest idea where did they come from.
So, I needed to clean up XML Sitemap. But how?
My first step was to seek the answer in WA. No way I am the only one who has this problem. Sure enough, the very same question was asked “What causes aio-seo xml sitemap show these urls?”
Unfortunately, there were only couple of answers and they were not very clear. But I still tried with not much success.
My next step was to ask Google. No clear answers there either.
So, I found the answer myself, doing some experiments with AIO-SEO settings.
The solution turned out to be very simple. Just unchecked one check box and all extra URLs disappeared. I have no idea at what point I might exidentaly checked it. But at least now I will never make this mistake again.
All in One SEO ->XML Sitemap -> Uncheck “Media / Attachments” box.
Don't forget to Update Sitemap.
I hope this post will help to save time and anxiety for someone else.
Have a great day,
Jane
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Hi Jane
Thanks for researching and sharing this. For nearly all my posts I have created a single page visual and textual summary of each post that I include at the end of each article as a .jpg or .png with a link to a .pdf which I have attached as media on a separate page inviting anyone to download the .pdf. I would clearly want these pages and the URLs to the downloadable .pdfs to appear in my AIO SEO XML site map. If I were to uncheck that Media/attachments box I assume all the URLs to the downloadable .pdfs would be gone?
Thanks if you on anyone could shed any light on this.
Best regards
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for reading my post. I don't know how it will work with .pdf attachments. When I unchecked the Media / Attachment box, my pictures did not disappear from the post, URLs disappeared from the Sitemap. So, I assume that your .pdf file will remain in the place. But you can play with check-uncheck box and see what it will do to the attachment.
Good luck,
Jane
That's correct, however, media and images wil still be indexed by Google if appropriate. It will just be the "pages" that get created for each media that you do not want indexed.
Hi Chrystopher
Thanks. That makes sense. When I click on a link to the pages for those .pdfs it takes me somewhere that I would not want a user to be taken to.
Best regards
Andy
Hi Jane
I do want google to find those .pdfs as individual URLs. I have actually found that e.g. "Longtail Keyword Summary PDF" often ranks well in Jaxxy and sometimes better than just the Longtail Keyword.
Thanks again
Best regards
Andy