OSmap is a sitemap generator component for Joomla 3 and Joomla 4, continuing the work of Xmap. OSMap can function with plugins designed for the legacy component. The developer's website contains a list of current plugins for various components from third-party developers, created for OSMap.
Description of OSMap from the developer
Speed up content indexing!
OSMap will create an XML sitemap, which you need to point to search engines through webmaster tools. This will significantly speed up the indexing of content.HTML sitemap for users.
OSMap displays the structure of the site on the web page in a user-friendly format.Support for the most popular components for Joomla.
OSMap supports not only Joomla content, but also elements of K2, Virtuemart, SobiPro, Mosets Tree, OSCampus and other components.Control the generation of Sitemap files.
Set the priority and frequency of page updates in the Sitemap file, exclude individual menu items from the sitemap or all at once.Unlimited number of Sitemap files.
OSMap allows you to create any number of maps site.Define what content to include in the Sitemap.
With plugins for OSMap, you can define the type of content to include in the sitemap.
Free vs Pro
There are free (Free) and paid (Pro) versions of the OSMap component. The differences between the versions are presented in the table.
| OSMap Features | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic generation of XML sitemaps for search engines. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Dynamic generation of HTML sitemaps for users. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Defining the priority and frequency of updates for menus, categories, and individual URLs. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Ability to create sitemaps for images and Google News. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Unlimited number of sitemaps. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sitemaps based on Joomla content component materials. | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sitemaps based on third-party components (plugins for K2, Kunena, Mosets Tree, SobiPro and Virtuemart). | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Excluding pages with noindex, nofollow from the sitemap. | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Columns in the HTML sitemap. | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Sitemap caching. | ❌ | ✔️ |
Installation OSMap
Download OSMap from the developer's website and install it via the Joomla extension manager.
Configuring OSMap
All component settings are made in Components → OSMap Free (OSMap Pro, if the paid version is installed). The main page of the OSMap component in the control panel includes:
Settings
Here you can determine whether to display external links in the HTML sitemap, set the display of page IDs when editing them in the sitemap, and activate the exclusion of duplicate menu items.Extensions
Go to the list of OSMap plugins for individual components. OSMap Free includes only one plugin for com_content. Each plugin has individual settings for including component elements in the sitemap. For example, the OSMap - Joomla Content plugin allows you to include and exclude categories, featured and archived materials, as well as set the priority and update frequency for categories and materials.Default Sitemap
Immediately after installation, OSMap creates a sitemap called Default Sitemap, which includes items from all existing menus. On the sitemap editing page, you can change its name and exclude individual menus, as well as set the priority and update frequency for individual menus.Edit Links
Clicking the icon in this column will take you to a page with a list of all pages included in the corresponding sitemap. Here you can assign priority and refresh frequency values to pages, and exclude them from the sitemap individually.Sitemap Links
Links in this column (XML, HTML, News, Image) lead to generated sitemaps according to the settings.
Plugins for the component
OSMap without plugins generates sitemaps only from menu items: if materials or categories are not menu items, the sitemap will not contain links to these pages.
If nested materials and categories are generated by the com_content component, then the plugin included in the free version of OSMap is enough to include them in the Sitemap.
OSMap Pro includes plugins for the following components:
- K2
- Kunena
- Mosets Tree
- SobiPro
- Virtuemart
If your site uses another third-party content component, you will surely find a plugin for it here.
Creating an HTML sitemap
- Menu → [Desired menu] → Create menu item.
- Menu item type (Select).
- OSMap (Free or Pro) → Sitemap - HTML Format.
- Choose a sitemap (Change) → [Desired sitemap].
- Fill in the menu title and alias if necessary.
- Save.
In the Sitemap Settings tab for the Sitemap - HTML menu item Format you can add a description to the sitemap, set the display of menu names that the sitemap includes, and add CSS styles preset in the component.
Creating an XML sitemap
The XML Sitemap file is required for search robots. To point search engines to this file, you can copy the URL of the link and paste it into the corresponding fields of the webmaster panels from Google and Yandex.
The link for the sitemap created in OSMap by default looks like this:
http(s)://[domain]/component/osmap/?view=xml&id;=1
To make the link address more understandable:
- Menu → [Desired menu] → Create menu item
- Menu item type (Select)
- OSMap (Free or Pro) → Sitemap - XML Format (default XML, images and news)
- Choose a sitemap (Change) → [The desired sitemap]
- Fill in the menu title and alias (for example, sitemap)
- In the Link Parameters tab, hide the menu item by setting the value No for the Show in menu option
- Save
After this, the sitemap in XML format should open at the address:
http(s)://[domain]/sitemap
Copy this address, go to the webmaster panels for Google and Yandex, enter it in the appropriate fields, thereby providing search engines with the information needed to index the site.