Managing your sitemap and search visibility

Your sitemap helps search engines find the public pages you want them to consider for search results. Cedros builds it from your published content and search settings, so you do not need to maintain a separate list of URLs.

Use this guide to check the sitemap, choose which content can appear in search, and understand the status of a Google submission. Being listed in a sitemap does not guarantee that a search engine will crawl, index, or rank a page. Google's sitemap guide explains that distinction.

Check your sitemap

1. Open Settings → Site → SEO and find Sitemap.
2. Read URLs in sitemap. When a sitemap is available, this shows its URL count and when it was refreshed.
3. Select View sitemap to open the public file. Its usual address is /sitemap.xml on your site's domain.
4. Look for an important published page, such as a service page or recent article. Check that its address uses the intended public domain and route.

The file is meant for search engines, so your browser may display plain XML instead of a designed page. A large sitemap can be an index of smaller sitemap files; open the listed files to find individual page URLs.

Cedros refreshes the sitemap automatically after relevant content changes. Allow it time to update, then reload the status and public file. You do not need to upload XML or submit the sitemap after every article edit.

The count describes URLs included in the sitemap, not pages indexed by Google. It can differ from the number of items in your content lists because drafts, hidden content, and duplicate URLs may be excluded.

Choose search visibility for the whole site

Open Settings → Site → Access. Review the current site mode and Show this site in search results together.

• Live, with search visibility on, allows eligible published content into the sitemap. Individual pages can still opt out.
• Turning search visibility off asks search engines not to index the site and leaves its sitemap empty.
• Waitlist or Presale, with search visibility on, exposes the holding page for search rather than the full site. The sitemap is limited to that landing page.
• Maintenance and Internal keep the sitemap empty. Turning the search switch on does not make the full site available while one of these modes is active.

When a holding page can appear in search, the Access screen points this out. Keep search visibility off if you do not want that page considered for search results. When the full site is ready, review both the site mode and search preference before launch.

Site settings save automatically and affect the live site. Wait for saving to finish and resolve any error before leaving. Changing the site to Live can expose published content, so review what visitors should see before changing modes.

Search visibility is not access control. A live page with search visibility off can still be opened by someone who has its address. Use the appropriate access restrictions for private content.

Include or exclude a single page

1. Open the page from Pages, or open an article from Blogs → Posts or Docs.
2. Select SEO and find Show this page in search results.
3. Turn it on to allow the page to be considered for search, or off to ask search engines not to index it and exclude it from the sitemap.
4. Review the change, then use the editor's normal save and publish flow. Check the public result after publication.

The site-wide setting still applies. Turning on an individual page does not override a hidden site, a holding page, or a private site mode.

For blog posts and docs, saving a draft does not replace the published version. In Page Builder, Save on an already published page publishes the changes; review the page before using it. See Understanding drafts, previews, and publishing for the full workflow.

Removing a page from a menu or the docs sidebar does not, by itself, exclude it from search engines. Use the search visibility control when that is your intention.

An excluded page may remain in search results until the search engine visits it again and processes the change. Google needs to be able to read a page's noindex instruction; blocking the crawl in robots.txt is not a substitute. See Google's guidance on preventing indexing. For urgent removal of sensitive information, restrict access to the content as well.

Connect and submit to Google

Your public sitemap can exist without a Google connection. Connecting Search Console lets Cedros report submission status and submit the sitemap to the selected Google property.

1. In Settings → Site → SEO → Sitemap, select Connect Search Console or Finish Search Console setup if either is shown. This opens Analytics → Third-party.
2. Complete the connection and choose a property that covers your site's public domain. For Google sign-in, grant Enable sitemap submission when you want Cedros to submit on your behalf. The Google account also needs an Owner or Full role for that property; read-only reporting access is insufficient.
3. Wait for the connection settings to save, then return to the Sitemap card. A sitemap must have been generated before it can be submitted.
4. Review the Google Search Console line. If a manual submission is needed, select Submit to Google. After an earlier submission, the action is labeled Submit again.

For connection steps and the service-account alternative, see Connecting search-performance services.

With an enabled connection and the required access, Cedros also attempts submission automatically when the sitemap changes. A recorded submission may therefore appear without you pressing the button.

A successful submission means the sitemap was sent to Google Search Console. It does not mean Google has indexed every listed page. Repeated submissions do not guarantee faster indexing. Use Search Console's page indexing information to investigate Google's handling of a particular URL.

Understand an empty or unavailable sitemap

Empty — the site is hidden from search engines. Check Access settings first. An empty sitemap is expected while site-wide search visibility is off or the site is in a protected mode.

Empty — no published pages to list yet. Check whether your content is published and eligible for search. Published pages can still be omitted if they are excluded from search, private, or identify another URL as their preferred version.

Not generated yet. Check that the public domain is configured and that the intended content has been published. Allow time for the automatic update. If the message persists, ask your site administrator to investigate sitemap generation.

The public file says “sitemap not yet generated” or returns an error. Treat this as an unavailable sitemap, not an empty but healthy one. Give your administrator the sitemap URL, the exact message, and the time you checked. Submitting it again or changing every page's search setting will not repair generation.

An available robots.txt file does not prove that the sitemap itself is available. Cedros generates crawler guidance from the site's visibility settings; always open the sitemap URL too when checking a problem.

Find a missing page

Start with the exact public URL you expect to see. Open it as a visitor, outside the editor's preview, and confirm that it shows the intended page.

Then check these common causes:

• Publication: the article or page may still be a draft, scheduled for later, or have unpublished changes.
• Site visibility: a holding page or site-wide search exclusion can prevent the full content list from appearing.
• Page visibility: Show this page in search results may be off, or the content may be private.
• Preferred URL: a canonical setting can identify another URL as the preferred version. Cedros omits such duplicate routes from the sitemap. Keep an intentional canonical choice; ask the person managing your SEO to review an unexpected one.
• Address changes: look for the current route, not an old address, alias, or redirect.
• Refresh timing: compare the Sitemap card's refresh time with when you published the change, then reopen the public file.

If these checks do not explain the omission, send your administrator the page URL, publication status, search settings, and sitemap result. Avoid changing unrelated pages while investigating one missing route.

Resolve submission and search-result problems

The connection is incomplete. Follow Finish Search Console setup and review the selected property, credentials, and sitemap access. A working search report does not prove that the connection can submit sitemaps.

Last submission failed. Read the error before trying again. Correct the named problem, such as missing permission, an inaccessible property, or an unavailable sitemap. Then use Submit again if offered. A newer failure matters even when an older submission succeeded.

There is no submission button. The sitemap may not yet exist, the connection may need setup, or your account may lack permission to change site settings. Ask the site owner to check your feature and settings access.

The page is in the sitemap but absent from Google. Confirm that the public page loads and permits indexing, then review that URL in Google Search Console. Sitemap inclusion and submission are discovery steps; Google decides what it indexes.

The page appears with an unexpected title or description. Check the published wording using Improving your page titles and search descriptions. Changing sitemap settings does not rewrite the page's search text.