Building on the work done in the version 10.0 release, Connection not only supports the core WordPress sitemaps; it now also supports the Yoast SEO and Rank Math sitemaps.
Sitemaps support is enabled automatically if you are using either Yoast SEO or Rank Math sitemaps. But, some conditions must be met. They are as follows:
- The web host must support the native WordPress sitemap feature, which requires the SimpleXML PHP extension.
- The “Search engine visibility” option must be disabled on the WordPress Reading Settings admin page. This option is disabled by default.
- The Directory Homepage must be set on the Connections Settings admin page under the General tab. The
[connections render=false]shortcode must exist on the chosen page. - The “Login Required” option must be disabled on the Connections Settings admin page under the General tab. This option is disabled by default.
- The “Name” permalink option must be enabled on the Connections Settings admin page under the Advanced tab. This option is enabled by default.
Other changes in this update:
- FEATURE: Support for Yoast SEO sitemaps.
- FEATURE: Support for Rank Math sitemaps.
- TWEAK: Change the date format used in the sitemaps from DATE_ATOM to DATE_W3C.
- TWEAK: Change
Provider::getQueryArgs()from protected topublicso it can be used in sitemap integrations. - TWEAK: Add several public methods to
Providerso the protected/private properties can be accessed for integrations. - TWEAK: The persistent logs should not be public queryable.
- TWEAK: Supported custom types should be used when defining a Directory Homepage ID.
- TWEAK: Use the
set_screen_option_connectionsinstead of theset-screen-optionfilter hook needed for the Screen Options tab settings to be saved appropriately. - TWEAK: If only a single instance of Connections is on a page, no need to add the instance ID to the sitemap index links.
- DEV: phpDoc updates.
- DEV: Inline code comment.
- DEV: Remove no inspection tag.