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Ship a clean sitemap

Only real public pages, every URL 200, self-canonical, with a unique title and description.

6 steps3 rulesStep 15 of 15 in Ship a website

Use this skill

Read https://isklls.com/s/ship-a-clean-sitemap and follow it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini or any agent that can open a link, then add your task.

Save.md
ship-a-clean-sitemap.md
Raw

Purpose::

https://<domain>/sitemap.xml is clean and every page in it is ready to rank.

Rules::

  • Only real public pages: no login, signup, dashboard, account or noindex pages
  • Every URL: 200, https on the domain, canonical = itself, unique title and description
  • Fix only the sitemap, robots and page metadata

Inventory::

  • The live sitemap.xml and robots.txt
  • A metadata checker (or curl + grep for title, description, canonical)

Steps::

  1. 1Fetch the sitemap; check the XML, URLs on the domain, lastmod
  2. 2Remove non-indexable routes; add missing public pages
  3. 3Check every URL's status, canonical, title and description; fix empty or duplicate ones
  4. 4robots.txt allows / and points to the sitemap
  5. 5Deploy and check again
  6. 6Reply in one line: URL count, zero errors

Metrics::

  • Zero errors on the second check
  • Every page in it could rank on its own
Website.md

Purpose:: List the pages of the first website.

Steps::

  1. 1. Start with home, pricing
  2. 2. Add signup and signin if users get an account
  3. 3. Add the 1-3 pages where the idea and the success metric happen
  4. 4. Reply as one comma separated line

Plan a first sitemap

The 4-7 pages your first website needs, so every CTA and success metric has a page.

Website.md

Purpose:: Lock the main inspiration URL: the live site your first website follows in structure and craft.

Steps::

  1. 1. Think of 3 famous products that sell something close to your idea
  2. 2. Open each; note how the home page puts the main action first
  3. 3. Keep the one with the clearest, most detailed home
  4. 4. Reply with its homepage URL and one line on what you take from it

Pick an inspiration website

Lock one famous, live product site whose structure your first website will follow.

Website.md

Purpose:: Say in one concrete sentence why this project is a perfect fit for you.

Steps::

  1. 1. Read the project's purpose
  2. 2. Read what you are about and what you have
  3. 3. Find the overlap: what you already have that this project can offer
  4. 4. Write: we have <X> (evidence), so <project> offers <Y> to <buyer>

Prove the fit in one sentence

Say why this project is a perfect fit for you, with evidence of what you already have.

Website.md

Purpose:: Build the perfect alternative to your direct competitors: their best parts plus what visitors in this space are used to.

Steps::

  1. 1. Per competitor: note the landing, pages and flow
  2. 2. List what they all share (traditional) and the best part of each
  3. 3. Build the header, footer and home, then the other public pages from that list
  4. 4. Deploy; screenshot desktop and mobile; compare with the competitor screenshots; fix

Build the best alternative frontend

Take the best part of each direct competitor plus what visitors in the space expect, and build it better.