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This plugin dynamically creates feeds that comply with the XML Sitemap and the Google News Sitemap protocol. It is Multi-Site and Multi-Lingual compatible and there are no options to be set nor file or dir access rights to be tampered with.

You or your site owners on your Multi-site network will not be bothered with complicated settings like other XML Sitemap plugins. XML sitemap values like ChangeFreq and URL Priority is auto-calculated based on post age and comment activity.

The feeds become instantly available: One XML Sitemap on yourblogurl.tld/sitemap.xml (or yourblogurl.tld/?feed=sitemap), ready for indexing by search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com and others. And one Google News Sitemap on yourblogurl.tld/sitemap-news.xml (or yourblogurl.tld/?feed=sitemap-news), ready for indexing by Google News. Both are automatically referenced in the dynamically created robots.txt on yourblogurl.tld/robots.txt to tell search engines where to find your XML Sitemaps.

Compatible with caching plugins like Super Cache, W3 Total Cache and Quick Cache that cache feeds, allowing better performance to serve the hungry (impatient) spider.

qTranslate and xLanguage compatible! Tested in Pre-Path Mode and Query Mode. Each language on your site will have its own XML Sitemap.

NOTES:

1. If you do not use fancy URL's or you have WordPress installed in a subdirectory, a dynamic robots.txt will NOT be generated. You'll have to create your own and upload it to your site root! See FAQ's.

2. On large sites, it is advised to use a good caching plugin like Quick Cache, WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache to improve your site and sitemap performance.

Advantages

• The main advantage of this plugin over other XML Sitemap plugins is simplicity. No need to change file or folder permissions, move files or spend time on a difficult plugin options page. In fact, there are no options at all!
• Completely automatic post URL priority and change frequency calculation based on post age and comment and trackback activity.
• Works out-of-the-box, even on multi-site / shared codebase / multi-blog setups like WordPress MU, WP 3.0 in MultiSite (WPMS) mode and others.
• Also works upon Network Activate or placed in /mu-plugins/ on WP 3.0 in MS mode and WPMU and even takes care to exclude any tags blogs to avoid malus points for link spamming.
• Compatible with multi-lingual sites using qTranslate or xLanguage to allow all languages to be indexed equally.

Limitations

• The feed contains the front page and all posts and pages but excludes category, tag and other dynamic archive pages. This should not be a problem and by most it is even advised to exclude them. There are SEO plugins around that actively block these archive pages from search engines.
• Except by re-saving older posts from time to time (keeping the lastmod date fairly recent) there is no way to manually control the priority of individual posts/pages in the sitemap. See the Faq's for more.
• This plugin does not ping any search engines. But then, WordPress does this by default already via the Ping-o-Matic service so why bother? See the Faq's for more.
• Because the feed is dynamically created, on very large sites the creation process might take a while. Search engines are said to have a short fuse about waiting for a sitemap, so you may want to consider using a cache plugin that also (pre)caches feeds. If you are unfamiliar with caching and server setup start with an easy caching plugin such as Quick Cache. For more options (and better performance?) you might find solace in WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache.

Translations

There is nothing to translate. The sitemap protocol is international, there is no options page nor any front-end or widget output. Nothing to see here, please move along ;)

Plugin developers

Since 3.8.5, there is a FILTER hook xml_sitemap_url available that lets you filter the URL for the sitemap reference in the generated robots.txt and the home URL in the sitemap. It sends both string (for single url) and array (for multiple urls) and should receive the same. See pre-packaged examples of it's use in xml-sitemap.php for the qTranslate and xLanguage plugins.

Credits

XML Sitemap Feed was originally based on the (discontinued?) plugin Standard XML Sitemap Generator by Patrick Chia. Many thanks! Since then, it has been completely rewritten and extended in many ways.