=== Sitemap Engine ===

Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 6.7
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 1.0.0
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A complete XML sitemap that keeps itself up to date, plus instant indexing.


== Why you need this ==

A sitemap you generate once and upload is a photograph: it is accurate the day
you take it and out of date the moment you publish anything new. This plugin
generates the sitemap on request instead, so it always reflects what is on your
site right now - no scheduling, no regenerating, nothing to re-upload.


== Installation ==

1. **Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin**, choose the zip, install, activate.
2. Open **Settings > Sitemap Engine** and copy the sitemap address.
3. Paste it into **Google Search Console > Sitemaps** once.

That is the whole setup. Everything else is optional.


== What it produces ==

* **Sitemap index** at `/sitemap.xml`, listing every sub-sitemap.
* **One sitemap per post type** - posts, pages and any custom types - split into
  files of 1,000 URLs by default (adjustable up to Google's 50,000 limit).
* **Taxonomy sitemaps** for categories, tags and custom taxonomies.
* **Author archives**, optionally.
* **Image entries** on every URL, taken from the featured image and the images
  in the content, with their alt text as the title.
* **A video sitemap** covering self-hosted video plus YouTube and Vimeo embeds,
  with thumbnails, player URLs and publication dates.
* **A Google News sitemap** of posts from the last two days, with your
  publication name and language.
* **`lastmod` on every entry**, taken from the real modification date.
* **A readable view**: open the sitemap in a browser and an XSL stylesheet turns
  it into a proper table instead of raw XML.

Video and news sitemaps are paid upgrades in the best-known SEO plugins. Here
they are simply included.


== Instant indexing (IndexNow) ==

Publish, update or delete a post and the URL is submitted to IndexNow, which
Bing, Yandex, Seznam and Naver all read from. Submissions are batched a minute
after the change so saving a post stays fast, and the verification key file is
served for you - there is nothing to upload.

Google does not participate in IndexNow; it discovers your changes through the
sitemap, which is why both matter.


== Control ==

* Tick or untick any post type or taxonomy in the settings.
* Every post and page gets a **Sitemap** box with a "Leave this out" checkbox.
* Anything you have marked `noindex` in Yoast SEO, Rank Math or SEOPress is
  left out automatically, so your sitemap and your robots directives agree.
* Password-protected posts are never listed.
* A `Sitemap:` line is added to robots.txt.
* WordPress's own `/wp-sitemap.xml` is switched off by default so search
  engines see one sitemap rather than two.


== Works alongside your SEO plugin ==

If Yoast, Rank Math, All in One SEO or SEOPress is active, you will see a note
on the settings screen. Two sitemaps will not harm your rankings, but it is
tidier to turn the other one off and keep a single source of truth.


== Filters for developers ==

    se_post_types      string[]  Post types included.
    se_taxonomies      string[]  Taxonomies included.
    se_exclude_post    bool      Return true to drop one post.
    se_post_images     array[]   Images collected for a post.
    se_post_videos     array[]   Videos collected for a post.
    se_index_entries   array[]   Entries listed in the sitemap index.


== Frequently asked questions ==

= Where is my sitemap? =

`https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml`. If you use plain permalinks it is served
from a query string instead; the settings screen always shows the correct
address.

= I get a 404 at /sitemap.xml =

Visit **Settings > Permalinks** and click Save. That rebuilds the URL rules.

= Does it slow my site down? =

No. Sitemaps are generated only when requested, and the index is cached until
you next publish or edit something.

= Can I still use the sitemap generator tool I downloaded this from? =

Yes, and they answer different questions. The online tool crawls any site,
including ones you do not control, and gives you a file to inspect or upload.
This plugin keeps your own site's sitemap current without you doing anything.


== Changelog ==

= 1.0.0 =
* First release.
