SEO Sitemaps

This guide explains how to use the WhiteBeard News Suite API to fetch sitemap data and expose the following URLs on your frontend:

/sitemap_index.xml
/news-sitemap.xml
/section-sitemap.xml
/author-sitemap.xml
/article-sitemap{number}.xml

These endpoints will allow search engines to crawl your site effectively.

1. API Endpoints Overview

The following API paths are used to fetch the required sitemap data:

Sitemap Index

API Path: /publication/{publication_id}/content/sitemap/index.xml
Description: Fetches the sitemap index for a publication.
Response: Sitemap index in XML format.
HTTP Method: GET

News Sitemap

API Path: /publication/{publication_id}/content/sitemap/news.xml
Description: Fetches the news sitemap for a publication.
Response: News sitemap in XML format.
HTTP Method: GET

Section Sitemap

API Path: /publication/{publication_id}/content/sitemap/categories.xml
Description: Fetches the section/category sitemap for a publication.
Response: Section sitemap in XML format.
HTTP Method: GET

Article Sitemap (Paginated)

API Path: /publication/{publication_id}/content/sitemap/sitemap{page_number}.xml
Description: Fetches a paginated sitemap of articles for a publication.
Response: Article sitemap in XML format.
HTTP Method: GET

Make sure to include an API-Key header. Refer to the Swagger docs to try out the API.

2. Implementation Steps

Step 1: Expose the URLs on Your Frontend

Ensure your frontend exposes the following URLs:

/sitemap_index.xml
/news-sitemap.xml
/section-sitemap.xml
/author-sitemap.xml
/article-sitemap{number}.xml

These URLs should act as proxies to fetch data from the API.

Step 2: Fetch Data from the API

Use the API paths to fetch the required sitemap data. Below is an example implementation for each sitemap type.

Sitemap Index

import axios from 'axios';

export async function getSitemapIndex(publicationId) {
  const response = await axios.get(`/publication/${publicationId}/content/sitemap/index.xml`, {
    headers: {
      'API-Key': 'your-api-key-here', // Replace with your actual API key
    },
  });
  return response.data; // XML response
}

News Sitemap

import axios from 'axios';

export async function getNewsSitemap(publicationId) {
  const response = await axios.get(`/publication/${publicationId}/content/sitemap/news.xml`, {
    headers: {
      'API-Key': 'your-api-key-here', // Replace with your actual API key
    },
  });
  return response.data; // XML response
}

Section Sitemap

import axios from 'axios';

export async function getSectionSitemap(publicationId) {
  const response = await axios.get(`/publication/${publicationId}/content/sitemap/categories.xml`, {
    headers: {
      'API-Key': 'your-api-key-here', // Replace with your actual API key
    },
  });
  return response.data; // XML response
}

Authors Sitemap

Note that the authors site map currently lists all authors with a filled in “Department” name in the backend.

import axios from 'axios';

export async function getSectionSitemap(publicationId) {
  const response = await axios.get(`/publication/${publicationId}/content/sitemap/authors.xml`, {
    headers: {
      'API-Key': 'your-api-key-here', // Replace with your actual API key
    },
  });
  return response.data; // XML response
}

Article Sitemap (Paginated)

import axios from 'axios';

export async function getArticleSitemap(publicationId, pageNumber) {
  const response = await axios.get(`/publication/${publicationId}/content/sitemap/sitemap${pageNumber}.xml`, {
    headers: {
      'API-Key': 'your-api-key-here', // Replace with your actual API key
    },
  });
  return response.data; // XML response
}

Step 3: Serve the Sitemaps

Set up your backend or server to serve the sitemaps at the required URLs. For example:

Node.js/Express Example

import express from 'express';
import { getSitemapIndex, getNewsSitemap, getSectionSitemap, getArticleSitemap } from './sitemap_services';

const app = express();
const publicationId = 'your-publication-id'; // Replace with your publication ID

// Cache duration: 1 year (in seconds)
const CACHE_DURATION = 365 * 24 * 60 * 60;

app.get('/sitemap_index.xml', async (req, res) => {
  const sitemap = await getSitemapIndex(publicationId);
  res.set('Cache-Control', `public, max-age=${CACHE_DURATION}`).type('application/xml').send(sitemap);
});

app.get('/news-sitemap.xml', async (req, res) => {
  const sitemap = await getNewsSitemap(publicationId);
  res.set('Cache-Control', `public, max-age=${CACHE_DURATION}`).type('application/xml').send(sitemap);
});

app.get('/section-sitemap.xml', async (req, res) => {
  const sitemap = await getSectionSitemap(publicationId);
  res.set('Cache-Control', `public, max-age=${CACHE_DURATION}`).type('application/xml').send(sitemap);
});

app.get('/article-sitemap:pageNumber.xml', async (req, res) => {
  const { pageNumber } = req.params;
  const sitemap = await getArticleSitemap(publicationId, pageNumber);
  res.set('Cache-Control', `public, max-age=${CACHE_DURATION}`).type('application/xml').send(sitemap);
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

3. Testing the Implementation

Start your server and ensure the URLs are accessible:
- http://localhost:3000/sitemap_index.xml
- http://localhost:3000/news-sitemap.xml
- http://localhost:3000/section-sitemap.xml
- http://localhost:3000/article-sitemap1.xml
Verify the XML responses match the expected format.
Submit the URLs to search engines (e.g., Google Search Console) for indexing.

4. Notes

Cache Headers: The Cache-Control header is set to cache the sitemap responses for 1 year (max-age=31536000). This ensures that the sitemaps are cached efficiently by Cloudflare. Make sure your Cloudflare cache rules are set to prevent browser caching.
Proactive Purging: The CMS will proactively purge the sitemap URLs on your frontend whenever a related change occurs (e.g., new content, updated articles, or deleted sections). This ensures that the cached sitemaps are always up-to-date without requiring manual intervention.