What are better workarounds for managing and correcting the auto generated sitemap in Webflow without having to manually remove incorrect URLs multiple times per day?

Webflow's auto-generated sitemap can include outdated or incorrect URLs, especially during frequent updates or dynamic content changes. To manage and correct this without constant manual edits, consider these workarounds:

1. Disable Webflow’s Auto-Generated Sitemap

• Go to Project Settings > SEO tab.
• Toggle off “Auto-generate sitemap.xml” — this stops Webflow from creating or updating the default sitemap.
• This gives you full control and prevents Webflow from re-adding unwanted URLs.

2. Create and Upload a Custom Sitemap

• Manually create a sitemap.xml file using a text editor or sitemap generator.
• Include only the URLs you want indexed.
• Host the custom sitemap by uploading it to a third-party service like GitHub or your own server.
• In Webflow, add the link to the sitemap in your robots.txt (Project Settings > SEO > Custom Code > robots.txt):
• Example: Sitemap: https://yoursubdomain.com/custom-sitemap.xml

3. Use 301 Redirects and “Noindex” Meta Tags

• Set 301 redirects in Project Settings > Hosting > 301 Redirects to reroute unwanted URLs to valid ones.
• In the page settings of each unwanted or temporary page, enable the “Noindex” meta tag to deter search engines from indexing them (CMS template pages allow this as well).
• This limits crawling of pages that might repopulate in the sitemap automatically.

4. Filter CMS Content to Exclude from the Sitemap

• For CMS Collection pages:
• Use conditional visibility/logic to hide or restrict access to collections that shouldn’t be indexed.
• Unlink their template pages (set the CMS template page to “noindex”) if they include default placeholder URLs you don’t want exposed.
• For duplicated or staged content, consider archiving or deleting entries in the CMS that are no longer valid.

5. Use Third-Party Sitemap Management Tools

• Services like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs, or Yoast’s online tools can scan your live site and let you:
• Export a clean sitemap.
• Validate URL indexing behavior.
• Re-upload and submit to Google Search Console separately.

6. Submit a Clean Sitemap to Google Search Console

• After disabling Webflow’s sitemap and hosting your clean version:
• Go to Google Search Console > Sitemaps.
• Submit the URL to your custom sitemap.
• This ensures Google crawls your intended URL structure and ignores Webflow’s automated version.

Summary

To avoid constant manual removal of bad URLs, disable Webflow’s auto-generated sitemap and use a custom version, combined with proper noindex settings and redirects. This gives you full control over what gets indexed and prevents Webflow from reintroducing unwanted URLs.