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Configure the Search Sitemap portlet for search by external search engines

The Search Sitemap portlet generates a navigable list of all public pages of the portal. We configure the Search Sitemap portlet to determine the limit to the number of links displayed per page.

IBM WebSphere Portal provides the Search Sitemap portlet. It serves two purposes:

  • Use the Search Sitemap portlet to navigate the portal site. See Manage pages.

  • The Search Sitemap portlet enables external search crawlers to collect portal pages more efficiently. This topic gives more information about configuring the Search Sitemap portlet for search by external search engines.

The Search Sitemap portlet generates a list of all public pages of the portal. We configure the Search Sitemap portlet to determine the limit to the number of links per page. The Search Sitemap portlet lists portal pages to that maximum figure per page and then starts a new page. Set this figure to a maximum of 50 - 200 links per page for the portal site. For example, the Google search engine recommends fewer than 100 links per page.

Configure the maximum number of links per page for search of the portal by setting the value for the parameter MAX_LINKS in the portlet preferences. We can do this either using the administration portlet Manage Portlets or by updating the portlet preferences portlet.xml of the Search Sitemap portlet.

Option Description
Use the administration portlet Manage Portlets Update the MAX_LINKS parameter for the Search Sitemap portlet...

  1. Go to the Manage Portlets portlet by clicking the Administration menu icon in the toolbar to open the administration menu.

  2. Click Portlet Management > Applications.

  3. Locate the Search Sitemap portlet by searching for wp.ap.sitemap.

  4. Click the Configure portlet application icon for the Search Sitemap portlet.

  5. Add the MAX_LINKS parameter by typing it in the New parameter: field.

  6. Click OK to save the updates.
Update the portlet preferences portlet.xml of the Search Sitemap portlet Set the general default for the parameter MAX_LINKS...

  1. Locate the WAR file of the Search Sitemap portlet in the portal installation. The WAR file is named sitemap.war.

  2. Edit the file portlet.xml in that WAR file.

  3. In the section portlet-preferences set the parameter MAX_LINKS to the required value, for example 50. Refer to this example code snippet: 
    <portlet-preferences>
     <preference>
          <name>MAX_LINKS</name>
          <value>50</value>
     </preference>  </portlet-preferences>

  4. Redeploy the Search Sitemap portlet.

  5. Restart the portal.


Results


What to do next

The Search Sitemap portlet lists only public pages of the portal, that is pages, which users can access without logging in to the portal with a user ID and password. Secured portal pages are not available for search by anonymous users and therefore not listed by the Search Sitemap portlet.

Search on the portal by external search engines requires more configuration. See Search by external search services and Client identification for search of the portal by external search engines.


Parent Configure the portal site for search by internet search engines