Develop > Presentation layer > Search engine optimization (SEO)
WebSphere Commerce integration with sitemaps
In the past, in order for a search engine to index the stores pages the spider needed to crawl through the Web site and index every page that it found. With the WebSphere Commerce integration with sitemaps, you can create a sitemap XML file...
sitemap_storeID.xml...that contains a list of URLs for the site.
The sitemap_storeID.xml file is placed in...
- WC_EAR/Stores.war
- WCDE_INSTALL/workspace/Stores/WebContent
The location of the file is submitted to the search engines...
The WebSphere Commerce integration with sitemaps is made up of two parts:
- A sample sitemap JSP file that can be used to generate the content of a search engine sitemap XML file.
The content is the URLs that to index such as the catalog, contact us, and help pages.
- A command that compiles the JSP file, optionally validates, and saves the search engine sitemap XML file.
The command can be scheduled to run regularly.
For example, it can be scheduled to run at night based on the catalog update schedule.
There is one sitemap_storeId.xml file per store. However, if the sitemap XML file exceeds the amount of URLs or size outlined in the Sitemap Protocol v0.9, it splits into several files. If there is no split, sitemap__storeId.xml.gz is generated. When there is a split, sitemap_storeId .xml.gz is the index file and sitemap_storeId_i.xml.gz are the sitemap files. The sitemap files are numbered sequentially.
See
- Schedule sitemaps integration
You can schedule sitemaps generation. Using the Scheduler in the Administration Console, you can create a sitemaps job, or update an existing one. For example, you might want to include any updates made to the catalog each day. When the scheduled job runs, it creates a sitemap.xml file, sitemap_storeId.xml.gz, based on the catalog information.
- Customize sitemaps integration
The sitemap JSP file provided is a sample based on the ConsumerDirect and AdvancedB2BDirect starter stores, and can be used as-is if the store is not customized. If the store is customized, for example you have any URLs that contain additional parameters or if there are new commands or views that are not in the starter stores, update the sitemap JSP file in order to generate the correct URLs.
Related concepts
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Related tasks
Schedule sitemaps integration
Customize sitemaps integration
Related reference