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Create and Configure sitemap.xml in ASP.NET Core

Introduction

 
A sitemap is an XML file that contains all URLs of a website. When a website creates dynamic web pages, it is very difficult for Search Engines to search all URLs and index them. That is why we created a sitemap XML file and include all required URLs in it. It helps search engines find URLs easily and index them quickly. In this article, we will create a sitemap.xml file and add a middleware for sitemap routing. 
 
The default URL is https://example.com/sitemap.xml
 

Required Packages

 
Let's create an ASP.NET Core Web Application and open the Package Manager Console and install the AspNetCore.SEOHelper NuGet package .
 
We can execute the following command in the Package Manager Console window:
  1. Install-Package AspNetCore.SEOHelper  

Sitemaps Format

 
The sitemap.xml file must be encoded with UTF-8. Example of sitemap:
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>    
  2. <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">    
  3.   <url>    
  4.     <loc>https://www.codingwithesty.com/</loc>    
  5.     <lastmod>2020-05-07T13:32:30+06:00</lastmod>    
  6.     <changefreq>daily</changefreq>    
  7.     <priority>1.0</priority>    
  8.   </url>    
  9.   <url>    
  10.     <loc>https://www.codingwithesty.com/search-engine-optimization-library-for-dot-net-code-developers</loc>    
  11.     <lastmod>2020-05-07T13:32:30+06:00</lastmod>    
  12.     <changefreq>daily</changefreq>    
  13.     <priority>0.8</priority>    
  14.   </url>    
  15. </urlset>     
urlset - Sitemap start and ending tag. Sitemap document start with <urlset> and ends with </urlset>
 
URL - parent tag for each URL entry
 
loc - URL of our site.
 
priority - represents site map priority.
 
lastmod - when the web page was last modified.
 
changefreq - This is an optional tag. It suggests how often a user agent should visit it again 
 
The values are:
  • always
  • hourly
  • daily
  • weekly
  • monthly
  • yearly
  • never

Create sitemap.xml

 
SEOHelper package provides SitemapNode class for new URL. CreateSitemapXML method helps to create sitemap.xml file. Let's create a list of URLs and then create sitemap.xml file in our project root directroy
  1. public class HomeController : Controller  
  2.     {  
  3.         private readonly ILogger<HomeController> _logger;  
  4.         private readonly IWebHostEnvironment _env;  
  5.         public HomeController(ILogger<HomeController> logger, IWebHostEnvironment env)  
  6.         {  
  7.             _logger = logger;  
  8.             _env = env;  
  9.         }  
  10.           
  11.         //not returning any view  
  12.         public string CreateSitemapInRootDirectory()  
  13.         {  
  14.             var list = new List<SitemapNode>();  
  15.             list.Add(new SitemapNode { LastModified = DateTime.UtcNow, Priority = 0.8, Url = "https://www.example.com/asp-dot-net-turotial-part1", Frequency = SitemapFrequency.Daily });  
  16.             list.Add(new SitemapNode { LastModified = DateTime.UtcNow, Priority = 0.8, Url = "https://www.example.com/asp-dot-net-turotial-part2", Frequency = SitemapFrequency.Yearly });  
  17.             list.Add(new SitemapNode { LastModified = DateTime.UtcNow, Priority = 0.7, Url = "https://www.example.com/asp-dot-net-turotial-part3", Frequency = SitemapFrequency.Monthly });  
  18.              
  19.             new SitemapDocument().CreateSitemapXML(list, _env.ContentRootPath);  
  20.             return "sitemap.xml file should be create in root directory";  
  21.         }          
  22.           
  23.     }  
CreateSitemapInRootDirectory() methid creates sitemap.xml in our project root directory.
 

Routing sitemap.xml in Asp.net Core

 
Now go to startup.cs and add app.UseXMLSitemap(env.ContentRootPath); in the middleware.
  1. public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)  
  2.         {  
  3.             app.UseXMLSitemap(env.ContentRootPath);  
  4.             app.UseRouting();  
  5.             app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => { endpoints.MapControllerRoute( name: "default", pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}"); });  
  6.         }  
Now, run your project and navigate to https://localhost:port/sitemap.xml . 
 

Conclusion

 
This is the end of our sitemap.xml article. Thanks a lot for reading. Write in the comment box in case you have any questions.


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