If i remove Sitemap.xml file any impact on SharePoint internet site?

adil 1,286 Reputation points
2020-09-08T10:00:27.63+00:00

is /robots.txt & /sitemap.xml files will be security vulnerabilities for SharePoint Sites?

what are the important considerations when using /robots.txt:

can i remove /robots.txt,/sitemap.xml file from root directory of web application for internet facing sites for save web site from malware robots that scan the web for security vulnerabilities.

what happen when i remove /sitemap.xml file for web application?

SharePoint Server Management
SharePoint Server Management
SharePoint Server: A family of Microsoft on-premises document management and storage systems.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Sharath Kumar Aluri 3,071 Reputation points
    2020-09-08T14:01:34.997+00:00

    Hi Ahmed,

    sitemap.xml is related to crawl customization. this type of file is used by the major search engines to help discover content on your SharePoint Site. Before deleting it i would say reach out to your Architect team and find out the importance of this feature. This will not impact the sites to be browsing but it could impact your sites search engine.

    Below article explains more about the feature:

    https://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com/2011/03/building-an-automatic-xml-sitemap-generator-for-your-sharepoint-site/

    Thanks & Regards,

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  2. Trevor Seward 11,706 Reputation points
    2020-09-08T14:40:52.767+00:00

    SharePoint doesn't deploy sitemap.xml or robots.txt. If those files exists within your Web App's folder, they've been manually provisioned.

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  3. JoyZ 18,071 Reputation points
    2020-09-09T02:21:20.947+00:00

    Hi @adil ,

    Per my test there is no impact on SharePoint internet site if I remove sitemap.xml and robot.txt file.

    In addition, please Deactivate the Search Engine Sitemap feature in this site collection to avoid the timer job re-creating related files.

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