Simple sitemap pagination url
This module automatically splits large sitemaps into multiple physical XML files, rather than using query parameters, to ensure search engines can properly index all website pages. It also generates a sitemap index file that correctly references these individual sitemap files, resolving indexing errors for sites with many URLs.
According to Google’s documentation on large sitemaps, a sitemap file must adhere to certain size constraints:
- Maximum of 50,000 URLs per sitemap, or
- File size must not exceed 50MB (uncompressed).
When a website exceeds these limits, it's necessary to:
- Split the sitemap into multiple files.
- Use a sitemap index file to reference these multiple sitemaps.
❗ Issue: Nested Indexing Error in Google Search Console
Problem observed:
- Submitting the sitemap initially appears to work.
- Upon inspecting individual pages (e.g., sitemap.xml?page=2), Google Search Console reports a "nested indexing error".
Root cause:
The sitemap is being paginated using query parameters (e.g., sitemap.xml?page=1, sitemap.xml?page=2).
However, Google does not support paginated sitemap index files using query strings.
Google expects each sitemap file to be a distinct .xml file, not paginated dynamically.
This incorrect format can result in:
- Google missing pages.
- Indexing issues or inconsistent crawl behavior.
✅ Solution Provided by the Module
What the module does:
Automatically splits large sitemaps into multiple physical .xml files instead of using query parameters.
Generates files like:
sitemap-1.xml
sitemap-2.xml
etc.
Creates a sitemap index file (sitemap.xml) that references these individual sitemap files correctly, in accordance with Google's requirements.
Benefits:
- Eliminates nested indexing errors.
- Ensures Googlebot can discover and crawl all pages efficiently.
- Provides SEO compliance for large-scale websites with thousands of URLs.