Do you want to discover how to remove pages from sitemap XML? If yes, this digital column contains all the necessary information to resolve your query. There are several instances when webmasters need to exclude some specific or broken pages from the sitemap. However, doing it manually can be possible by simply editing the sitemap.xml file.
But it is a very daunting task, especially for websites that have thousands of pages. Therefore, today in this technical column we are going to discuss both free and expert solutions. Please read each blog section of this digital column to completely resolve exclude pages from sitemap issue.
General Reasons to Exclude Page from Sitemap XML
To maintain a healthy SEO-optimized website webmaster is often required to remove URLs from sitemap XML based on these common categories of pages.
- Pages with No-Index Tag: It is seen in several circumstances when users are using unauthentic ways to build and submit sitemaps to search engines. Several no-index tag pages come in the sitemap. Therefore, to fix this issue users are often required to exclude such URLs from the sitemap.
- Pages with Duplicate Content: Pages with duplicate content or intent might negatively your SEO performance. Potentially, results in a loss in search engine rankings. Therefore, SEO professionals regularly audit their websites to identify such pages.
- Admin or Internal Pages: Due to non-professional practices sometimes Admin or internal pages are added to the sitemap. These pages waste the search bot crawl budget. Results in important pages do not get indexed efficiently. To overcome such a problem user is required to remove pages from sitemap XML.
- Broken or Deleted Pages: Pages with outdated, duplicate content are deleted from time to time to maintain SEO performance. Now, to fully remove such pages from the website these are also required to be removed from the sitemap too.
Directly Remove Pages from Sitemap XML by Editing It
The most common and simplest way to exclude links from the sitemap is by editing the sitemap.xml file using a text editor. However, this technique takes a little bit of time but it works well and is suggested by experts from small websites. If your website has limited pages then you may go with this technique. Let us discover how to do it with the below-mentioned step-by-step tutorials.
How to Remove Links from Sitemap? Manual Way Working Steps
- Initially, backup the sitemap.xml file of your site on your desktop.
- You may use the FTP client to backup the sitmap.xml file on your PC.
- Next, open the sitemap.xml file using the code editors like Notepad++.
- Then, use the CTRL + F function to find pages that are required to be removed.
- Now, remove these entire URL blocks to exclude pages from sitemap
- Finally, save the edited file and overwrite it on the server using an FTP client.
Note: The DIY approach is only recommended for users handling small websites with only hundreds of web pages. Since, for large sites it might be difficult to identify and remove links from sitemap.
Best Way to Remove URL from Sitemap XML
If you are handling a website that has thousands of pages in its sitemap. Then it is difficult to go with the DIY approach. To make it simpler and accurate you may use the Sitemap Buddy Sitemap Generator Software. This advanced utility can be used efficiently to remove pages from sitemap. It has dedicated settings options to overcome such types of problems. Additionally, this technique can also be used to exclude attachments/images from the sitemap. Let us discover how to use this expert methodology to overcome the problem in a detailed step-by-step way.
How to Remove URL from Sitemap XML Using Expert Way?
- First, install and run the recommended utility on your desktop.
- Now, enter the URL of your site in the link section of the solution.
- Then, click on the Settings option from the ribbon and go to the exclude URLs section.
- After that, enter the links of pages that need to be removed from the sitemap.
- Next, click on the crawl button, review the sitemap pages, and export the sitemap.xml
- Finally, overwrite the removed pages sitemap.xml to the hosting server & submit it in GSC.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Removing Pages from Sitemap
- Update interlinking for pages that are removed from the sitemap. Since these URLs can result in dead links error.
- Remember to submit the removed pages sitemap to webmaster tools. Since search bots completely rely on sitemap.xml to identify new content.
- Remove pages from the sitemap does not mean that they are instantly removed from indexing. To remove pages from indexing remove them using GSC (Google Search Console).
Concluding Words
To conclude the above blog is on the topic of how to remove pages from sitemap XML. We have started our discussion by understanding the common reasons to do so. Thereafter, we have seen the DIY approach to exclude links from sitemap. However, the manual way is limited to small sites. Therefore, for professionals handling large websites, we have described a completely automated solution. Finally, common mistakes that are required to be noticed while removing links from sitemap XML.
