When the client reached UPQODE, their website contained an extensive network of XML sitemaps generated by Yoast, more than a thousand URLs spanning blog posts, team profiles, news items, events, categories, tags, and several custom post types. This volume of low-value URLs created a broken XML sitemap that needed technical correction.
Although the site hosted a substantial amount of meaningful content, many of the URLs appearing in the XML sitemaps were thin, orphaned, or automatically generated pages offering minimal SEO value.
What initially appeared to be a standard sitemap review quickly revealed a deeper opportunity to strengthen the website’s technical SEO foundation.
UPQODE conducted a comprehensive evaluation of every Yoast-generated sitemap, assessing URL volume, indexation patterns, content depth, and internal linking structures. The mission was clear: reduce unnecessary crawl activity, elevate high-value content paths, and prepare the site for scalable, long-term organic visibility.
The Challenge: A Sitemap XML Filled With Low-Value, Auto-Generated Pages
During the audit, UPQODE reviewed each sitemap individually, examining not only the content behind each URL but how those URLs fit into the broader architecture of client’s site. Many of the sitemap entries included pages that served little purpose for search engine users and even less for organic ranking.
Some of the key sitemap files reviewed included:
| Blog Posts Sitemap | https://site.com/post-sitemap.xml |
| Team Sitemap | https://site.com/team-sitemap.xml |
| Events Sitemap | https://site.com/events-sitemap.xml |
| News Sitemap | https://site.com/news-sitemap.xml |
| Resources Sitemap | https://site.com/resource-sitemap.xml |
| Awards Sitemap | https://site.com/award-sitemap.xml |
| Award Recognition Sitemap | https://site.com/excaw-sitemap.xml |
| Category Sitemap | https://site.com/category-sitemap.xml |
| Tag Sitemap | https://site.com/post_tag-sitemap.xml |
| Team Category Sitemap | https://site.com/teamcat-sitemap.xml |
| Resource Category Sitemap | https://site.com/resourcecat-sitemap.xml |
| Events Category Sitemap | https://site.com/events-category-sitemap.xml |
| Author Sitemap | https://site.com/author-sitemap.xml |
While the blog and resources sections contained meaningful, content-rich material that warranted indexation, other parts of the site had evolved over time without a strategic SEO structure in place.
Custom post types automatically generated pages that were never linked internally. Category archives existed without descriptions. Tag pages proliferated with little or no unique value. And dozens, sometimes hundreds, of pages lived in isolation, invisible to users and unhelpful to search engines.
The result: an inflated sitemap that diluted crawl efficiency and risked weakening the site’s overall SEO strength.
UPQODE’s Approach: Clean, Consolidate, and Refocus Search Engines on the Pages That Matter
UPQODE’s SEO and technical team performed a meticulous evaluation of content type, indexation purpose, and value contribution for each URL group. The restructuring process involved both technical adjustments and strategic recommendations for future content governance.
1. Identifying Orphaned and Thin Pages
Many sitemap entries, particularly in the Team, Events, News, Awards, and Award Recognition sections, revealed a common pattern:
Automatically generated pages with no internal links and minimal content.
These included:
- 47 standalone Team Member pages,
- 177 Events pages,
- 141 News pages that duplicated external content,
- 22 Award pages,
- 15 Award Recognition pages.
These pages did not contribute meaningfully to SEO and instead diluted crawl efficiency, making it harder for search engines to prioritize client’s high-quality content.
2. Evaluating Archive and Taxonomy Pages
Archive-level sitemaps such as Categories, Tags, and Author pages created additional thin content issues.
- The Tag Sitemap alone listed 148 tag pages, many with only a single associated post.
- Category archive pages contained no descriptions or contextual information.
- Author pages existed but were not linked to from any visible part of the site.
Google’s crawlers were essentially being asked to index pages that provided no unique value.
3. Keeping High-Value Content Accessible
Two areas stood out as clearly beneficial:
- Blog posts (314 indexed URLs)
- Resources (126 indexed URLs)
These remained in the sitemap unchanged, as they consistently provide fresh content, strong keyword relevance, and significant SEO value.
4. Removing Low-Value URLs From the Sitemaps
UPQODE systematically removed low-performing or unnecessary URLs from the XML sitemaps and marked them for deindexing. This cleared the path for search engines to focus on the core, authoritative sections of the site.
5. Proposing Long-Term Structural Enhancements
Where appropriate, UPQODE outlined future options, such as:
- Enriching Team or News pages with curated content,
- Consolidating or rebuilding custom post types,
- Adding meaningful archive descriptions,
- Introducing on-page filtering mechanisms to reduce reliance on tag or category pages.
These improvements provide a roadmap for sustainable SEO growth, especially as the client continues producing content.
The Impact: A Streamlined Sitemap and a Stronger SEO Foundation
The transformation was significant. By removing large volumes of thin, auto-generated or orphaned pages from the XML sitemap, and thereby from Google’s index, client now has:
- A more efficient crawl budget
- Reduced duplicate and thin content risk
- Clearer prioritization of high-value pages
- A cleaner, more strategic information architecture
- A foundation ready for content expansion without SEO degradation
Where once search bots were sifting through hundreds of low-value URLs, they are now directed toward the content client truly wants to rank for.
A Stronger Platform for Future Growth
With the updated sitemap structure in place, our client’s website is positioned for long-term organic success. Search engines can more easily interpret content hierarchy, understand topical relevance, and index pages that genuinely deliver value.
UPQODE’s recommendations for improving content governance, rebuilding outdated custom post type mechanisms, and enhancing on-page content provide clear next steps that can further amplify performance.
The result is not just a cleaner sitemap, it is a more focused, more efficient, and more strategically aligned digital presence.
Ready to Transform Your XML Sitemaps Into a Real SEO Asset?
If your website has grown over time, chances are your XML sitemaps have too, often in ways that dilute crawl efficiency, surface low-value URLs, and limit overall search visibility. UPQODE specializes in uncovering these hidden issues and restructuring sitemaps so search engines focus on the content that truly matters.
Whether you need a full sitemap audit, technical SEO clean-up, or long-term content governance strategy, our team is here to help.
Submit the form below, and let’s get started:
