Add archive to sitemap

[gitviola]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I have archive pages of custom post types that should be index by google but the single posts of this post types shouldn't be. I set this up in the Yoast settings but the archive doesn't appear in the sitemap. It only shows it up if I index all posts of this post type (what I don't want). Here are the settings:

Describe the solution you'd like

If this settings combination is set then it should add the archive page of this post type to the sitemap.

why you think the feature request is something we should consider for the Yoast SEO plugins?

Because I always had this usecase across different projects.

[benvaassen]

There is no use case for this combination of settings that makes any sense SEO-wise. Therefore, I'm closing this.

[gitviola]

@benvaassen I disagree with you. Why does it not make sense SEO-wise? The archive page doesn't need to have a pagination and can have the posts of the content type printed out. I think if you offer a way to control the robots setting on the archive page (which the plugin has) I also expect that those archives that should be indexed land in the sitemap.

If you say it's not a priority because there are other more important things on the list that's fine, if I have some time I could work on a pull request for that. But regarding the sense of it I disagree.

[benvaassen]

I'm not seeing a use-case for this. As far as I can tell, you don't want any posts from Stellenausschreibung to be indexed and you don't want those to appear in the search results. Why would you want the archive page to appear which lists all those posts you don't want to be indexed? Why don't you let each of those posts be indexed?

If you can convince me of a valid use-case I'll reopen it but for now, I'm not convinced.

[gitviola]

I agree that for most people this won't be a use case, especially because most wordpress users only use the default archive template. But let's say you're selling houses. So you create a custom post types for houses and create all your houses in there. A lot of those houses have the same properties but some are different - still you have a lot of duplicated content. The archive page on the other hand doesn't just list those houses - it includes a summary and describes the different kinds of houses with explanations and below each category you list the pictures of those houses which link to the house itself.

In this case the goal is to have one page (the archive) talks about the houses you have. But you don't want the single-house pages to be indexed to not weaken the whole page, because most of them are identical (except the pictures or some properties eg size, floors, ...).

You could argue that for that it's better to create a single page but then the breadcrumbs and the concept of archives/custom post types doesn't work so well anymore. I'm aware that it's also not the best idea to have too much static content coded in the archive page but that's currently the best solution I found.

I sent you a link on Twitter so you can see an example page

[benvaassen]

So if I read this correctly, the issue is actually not having unique content? I'm not sure if this actually qualifies as a valid use-case, but I can understand your request better now. I've reopened it and labeled this issue needs decision which means @jdevalk will assess your request.

[gitviola]

It's mostly about putting all the power to the "archive page", because the single posts are about the same topic but don't differ too much from each other. On the archive page there is no pagination, the categories of the houses are listed and the category description is displayed. Also the archive page includes call to actions to other pages + under each category the product number + picture of each house which links to the single post page. So the archive page is the most important one, the others are not relevant for ranking but are relevant for the user to read the details of the houses (which can be the same as on other houses, depends on the house).

I haven't looked into the code yet but maybe I find some time at some weekends to work on that. It's indeed not a use-case for a lot of people.

[jonoalderson]

Hey folks, I'm wading in here with an opinion...

I can see the use-case. I've also seen it used in the real world, specifically on property and used vehicle sites, for the reasons stated (consolidation of value into archive pages, and no-indexing of transient/weak listing pages).

I think it's a bit of an awkward compromise, and an imperfect SEO solution - but I can't think of a better one.

I'm uncomfortable adding an extra, potentially confusing option to the configuration screens - however, we could, and should, definitely provide a filter to enable theme/plugin developers to alter this behaviour easily.

[Saborknight]

Also, the way those options present themselves, it implies that the option "Show the archive x in search results" will be listed in the sitemap no matter what the above "Show x in search results" option is set to.