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Sitemap Generator

 

What This Page Does

The Sitemap Generator helps search engines like Google and Bing find and index all the pages on your site. Think of it as a roadmap that shows search engines where to find your videos, galleries, models, categories, and other content. This page lets you control what gets included in your sitemap, how often it updates, and how important different types of content are to search engines.

[Screenshot: page-overview]


How to Get Here

Navigate to Admin Panel > Template Management > Sitemap Generator


Understanding the Page

When you first open the Sitemap Generator, you'll see a header at the top showing whether your sitemap is active, along with four tabs that organize different aspects of sitemap management.

Page Header

At the top, you'll see:

  • A status badge showing either "Sitemap Active" (green) or "No Sitemap" (yellow)
  • The page title and description

 

Four Main Tabs

The page is organized into four sections:

  1. Overview - Shows your sitemap status, URL, and recent generation history
  2. Settings - Controls what content types to include and how search engines see them
  3. Static Pages - Lets you add custom pages like About, Contact, or Terms
  4. History - Shows a complete log of all sitemap generations

Common Tasks

How to Check Your Sitemap Status

Your sitemap status appears in two places:

  1. The badge next to the page title shows if your sitemap exists
  2. The Overview tab shows when it was last generated

If the status shows "No Sitemap," your sitemap hasn't been generated yet or the file is missing.

How to View Your Sitemap

  1. Click the Overview tab.
  2. Look for the "Sitemap URL" section.
  3. Click the View button to open your sitemap in a new tab.
Tip: Bookmark your sitemap URL so you can check it anytime. The URL is usually something like https://yoursite.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml

How to Copy Your Sitemap URL

You'll need your sitemap URL when submitting to Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools:

  1. Click the Overview tab.
  2. Find the "Sitemap URL" section.
  3. Click the Copy button.
  4. A notification will confirm the URL was copied to your clipboard.

How to Generate Your Sitemap Manually

Your sitemap updates automatically every day at 5:00 AM. If you want to update it immediately after making changes:

  1. Log into your server via SSH.
  2. Navigate to your cron directory.
  3. Run the command shown in the "Manual Generation Instructions" section.
Warning: Large sites with thousands of videos may take several minutes to complete generation.

Tab 1: Overview

The Overview tab shows you the current status of your sitemap system at a glance.

Statistics at the Top

Four cards show:

  • Sitemap Status - Whether your sitemap file exists (green check or red X)
  • Last Generated - When the sitemap was last created
  • Generation History - How many times the sitemap has been generated
  • Auto Generation - Whether automatic daily updates are enabled

 

Your Sitemap URL

This section displays your sitemap's web address and includes buttons to:

  • Copy the URL to your clipboard
  • View the sitemap in your browser

 

Automatic Generation

Your sitemap is generated automatically once per day at 5:00 AM. This keeps search engines updated with your latest content without you having to remember to do it manually.

Recent Generations Table

The bottom of the Overview tab shows the 10 most recent sitemap generations. Each row shows:

  • Type - What kind of content was included (videos, galleries, models, etc.)
  • Filename - The name of the generated file
  • URLs - How many pages were included
  • Size - The file size
  • Status - Whether generation succeeded or had errors
  • Generated - When it was created

 

Note: This shows only the last 10 entries. For complete history including generation times, switch to the History tab.

Tab 2: Settings

The Settings tab is where you control what appears in your sitemap and how search engines interpret it.

General Settings

Setting What It Does Recommended
Enable Sitemap Generation Master on/off switch for the entire sitemap system Keep enabled
Max URLs per File Splits large sitemaps into smaller files after this many pages 10,000 (default)
Min Tag Content Count Only includes tags that have at least this many videos/galleries 3 (filters out rarely-used tags)
Tip: Keep Max URLs per File at 10,000. This creates smaller, faster-loading sitemap files.

Content Types

Use the toggle switches to control what types of content appear in your sitemap:

Toggle What It Includes
Videos All your video pages
Galleries Photo galleries
Models Model/performer profile pages
Categories Category listing pages
Tags Tag pages (filtered by the minimum count above)
Creators Creator profile pages
Cam Performers Live cam performer pages
Static Pages Custom pages you add in the Static Pages tab
Warning: If you turn off a content type, search engines may take longer to discover those pages. Only disable types you don't want indexed.

Extensions

These add extra information that helps Google understand your content better:

Extension What It Does Recommended
Video Extensions Adds video thumbnails, duration, and descriptions to video pages Enable for better video search results
Image Extensions Adds image metadata for galleries and model photos Enable for better image search results

Search Engine Notifications

After generating your sitemap, the system can automatically notify search engines:

Service What It Does
Ping Google Tells Google your sitemap updated
Ping Bing Tells Bing your sitemap updated
Tip: Keep both enabled so search engines know immediately when you add new content.

Change Frequencies and Priorities

This table lets you tell search engines how often each type of content changes and how important it is.

Change Frequency - How often the page typically updates:

  • always - Changes every time someone views it (rarely needed)
  • hourly - Updates every hour (good for live cam performers)
  • daily - Updates once a day (good for videos and galleries)
  • weekly - Updates once a week (good for models and categories)
  • monthly - Updates once a month (good for static pages)
  • yearly - Almost never changes
  • never - Never changes

 

Priority - How important the page is (0.0 to 1.0):

  • 1.0 - Most important
  • 0.8 - High importance (recommended for videos and galleries)
  • 0.7 - Medium-high importance (recommended for models and creators)
  • 0.6 - Medium importance (recommended for categories)
  • 0.5 - Default importance (recommended for tags)
  • 0.0 - Lowest importance

 

Tip: Set videos and galleries to "daily" and 0.8 priority. Set models to "weekly" and 0.7. Set cam performers to "hourly" since their online status changes constantly.

Saving Your Settings

After making changes, scroll to the bottom and click Save Settings. A notification will appear in the bottom-right corner confirming your changes were saved.


Tab 3: Static Pages

The Static Pages tab lets you add custom pages to your sitemap that aren't videos, galleries, or models.

Adding a Static Page

Use this form to add pages like About, Contact, Terms of Service, or Privacy Policy:

  1. Type the page path in the URL Path field (for example: /about or /contact).
  2. Optionally, add a Title for your reference.
  3. Choose how often the page changes from the Change Frequency dropdown.
  4. Set the Priority (0.0 to 1.0).
  5. Click Add Static Page.
Note: The URL path should start with a /. If you forget it, the system adds it automatically.
Note: If you add a page that already exists, the system updates it instead of creating a duplicate.

After adding a page, the page will reload and your new entry will appear in the table below.

Managing Static Pages

The table shows all your custom pages with these columns:

Column What It Shows
Enabled Toggle switch to include or exclude this page
URL Path The page's web address
Title Optional description
Frequency How often it changes
Priority Its importance (0.0-1.0)
Actions Delete button (trash icon)

Enabling or Disabling a Page

Click the toggle switch next to any page to instantly include it in or remove it from your sitemap. The change saves immediately without clicking a save button.

Deleting a Static Page

  1. Find the page you want to remove.
  2. Click the red trash icon in the Actions column.
  3. Confirm when asked.
Warning: Deleting a page removes it from the sitemap permanently. You'll need to add it again if you change your mind.

Tab 4: History

The History tab shows a complete log of all sitemap generations.

Generation History Table

Each row represents one sitemap file that was generated and includes:

Column What It Shows
Type Content type (videos, galleries, models, etc.)
Filename The generated file name
URLs Number of pages included
Size File size in kilobytes
Time How long generation took (in seconds)
Status Success, error, or warning
Generated Exact date and time

Clearing Old History

To keep the database clean, you can remove old history entries:

  1. Click the Clear Old History button at the top of the table.
  2. Confirm when asked.
  3. All entries older than 30 days are deleted.
Note: This only removes entries older than 30 days. Recent history is kept so you can troubleshoot if needed.

The Sitemap Generator doesn't have search or filters because it uses tabs to organize information. Each tab shows specific information about your sitemap system.


View Modes

This page uses a single layout and doesn't have card view or list view options.


Submitting Your Sitemap to Search Engines

After generating your sitemap, you should submit it to search engines:

Google Search Console

  1. Go to Google Search Console.
  2. Add your site if you haven't already.
  3. Click "Sitemaps" in the left menu.
  4. Paste your sitemap URL.
  5. Click "Submit."

Bing Webmaster Tools

  1. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools.
  2. Add your site if you haven't already.
  3. Click "Sitemaps" in the left menu.
  4. Paste your sitemap URL.
  5. Click "Submit."
Tip: Add a line to your robots.txt file so crawlers can find your sitemap automatically: Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml

Tips for New Users

Tip:
  • Enable automatic generation - Let the system update your sitemap daily so you don't have to remember.
  • Keep video and gallery priorities high - These are usually your most important content types.
  • Set cam performers to update hourly - Their online status changes constantly.
  • Don't set everything to priority 1.0 - Use relative priorities so search engines know what's most important.
  • Check the History tab occasionally - Look for errors that might need attention.
  • Submit to both Google and Bing - They're the two largest search engines.

Troubleshooting

The sitemap status shows "No Sitemap"

What you see: The status badge is yellow and says "No Sitemap."

How to fix it:

  1. Check that automatic generation is enabled in the Settings tab.
  2. Wait until 5:00 AM for the next automatic generation, or run the manual generation command.
  3. If the problem continues, contact your hosting provider to check that the /sitemaps/ folder exists and is writable.

 

Settings won't save

What you see: When you click "Save Settings," nothing happens or you see an error message.

How to fix it:

  1. Refresh the page and try again.
  2. Check that you're still logged in (your session may have expired).
  3. If the error says "Invalid security token," refresh the page to get a new token.

 

A static page isn't appearing in the sitemap

What you see: You added a page but it's not showing up when you view the sitemap.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to the Static Pages tab and check that the toggle switch next to the page is turned on.
  2. Go to the Settings tab and make sure "Static Pages" is enabled under Content Types.
  3. Wait for the next automatic generation, or run the manual generation command.

 

The buttons and toggles are grayed out

What you see: All the controls are disabled and there's a yellow banner saying "Demo Mode."

What it means: The interface is running in read-only mode to prevent changes. This is common on demo sites or during training sessions. Contact your site administrator if you need to make changes.

Sitemap generation is taking too long

What you see: Generation seems to hang or never completes.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to the Settings tab and reduce "Max URLs per File" to 5,000.
  2. Disable content types you don't need in the sitemap.
  3. Increase the "Min Tag Content Count" to filter out rarely-used tags.
  4. If you have a very large site, schedule generation during off-peak hours.

 

Search engines aren't finding new content

What you see: New videos or galleries aren't showing up in Google search results.

How to fix it:

  1. Make sure you've submitted your sitemap URL to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
  2. Check that "Ping Google" and "Ping Bing" are enabled in the Settings tab.
  3. Verify your sitemap is accessible by opening the sitemap URL in your browser.
  4. Be patient - it can take several days for search engines to crawl new content.

 


Page When to Use It
SEO Manager Configure meta tags, descriptions, and Open Graph settings for social media
Feature Toggles Turn site features on or off globally
Theme Manager Change the look and feel of your site
Log Viewer Check system logs if sitemap generation fails
API Tester Test REST API endpoints that provide content for the sitemap

Understanding How Sitemaps Work

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website. Search engines like Google and Bing read this file to discover your content faster and more completely than they could by following links.

Why do I need one?

Without a sitemap, search engines might miss pages, especially:

  • New videos or galleries you just uploaded
  • Model profiles that aren't linked from your homepage
  • Tag pages that are only reached through multiple clicks

 

With a sitemap, search engines know exactly where to find everything.

How often should I update it?

The system updates your sitemap automatically every day at 5:00 AM. For most sites, this is perfect. If you add a lot of content throughout the day, you can run manual generation after major uploads.

What's the difference between changefreq and priority?

  • Changefreq tells search engines how often to come back and check the page for updates.
  • Priority tells search engines which pages are most important to you.

For example, you might set videos to "daily" changefreq and 0.8 priority because you add new videos often and they're your main content. You might set your About page to "monthly" and 0.5 because it rarely changes and isn't your main focus.

What are video and image extensions?

These add extra information to your sitemap specifically for Google. Video extensions include things like:

  • Thumbnail images
  • Video duration
  • Video descriptions

 

Image extensions include metadata about photos in galleries. This helps your content show up in Google Video Search and Google Image Search with rich previews.

Tip: Always enable video and image extensions. They give search engines more information and can improve your visibility.