<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9
        http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsd">

    <!--
      SITEMAP FIXES APPLIED (2026-03-23):

      1. REMOVED: /privacy-policy
         Reason: Page is now noindex (legal page, no ranking value).
         Including noindex pages in the sitemap wastes crawl budget and
         confuses Googlebot — it's a signal contradiction.

      2. REMOVED: /terms-and-conditions
         Same reason as privacy-policy.

      3. REMOVED: /search?q={search_term_string}
         This URL was being submitted because it appeared in the WebSite
         SearchAction schema in index.html. That schema block has been
         removed from index.html since /search doesn't exist as a route.

      4. UPDATED: All service page lastmod dates → 2026-03-23
         "Discovered – currently not indexed" pages often need a fresh
         lastmod to trigger a re-crawl priority boost.

      5. INCREASED: Tool page priorities (speed-test, mobile-checker,
         seo-check, security-check) from 0.6/0.7 → 0.8.
         These pages generate free value and should be crawled frequently.

      6. ADDED: /services/training-digital-manuals and /services/custom-pc-builds
         which were in the old sitemap but are repeated here for completeness.
    -->

    <!-- ═══ TIER 1: Core Pages (Priority 1.0 – 0.9) ═══ -->

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
        <priority>1.0</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.9</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/pricing</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.9</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/contact</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.9</priority>
    </url>

    <!-- ═══ TIER 2: Service Pages (Priority 0.85) ═══ -->
    <!--
      These 7 pages are "Discovered – currently not indexed".
      Updating lastmod to today signals to Googlebot that content is
      fresh and worth crawling. Combined with the improved schema in
      ServiceDetail.jsx, this should trigger indexing within 2-4 weeks.
    -->

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/custom-web-design</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/web-development</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/seo-optimization</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/website-maintenance</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/custom-software</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <!-- LOW COMPETITION NICHE: "AI website assistant South Africa" -->
    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/ai-bots-ml-models</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <!-- LOW COMPETITION NICHE: "gamification agency South Africa" -->
    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/gaming-platforms</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.85</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/training-digital-manuals</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/services/custom-pc-builds</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.75</priority>
    </url>

    <!-- ═══ TIER 3: Portfolio & Tools (Priority 0.8) ═══ -->

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/portfolio</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <!--
      Tool pages raised to 0.8 — they provide unique free value
      ("free website speed test south africa", "free SEO check south africa")
      and can rank for zero-cost, high-intent queries.
    -->
    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/speed-test</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/mobile-checker</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/seo-check</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/security-check</loc>
        <lastmod>2026-03-23</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/blog</loc>
        <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/blog/website-speed-affects-sales</loc>
        <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/blog/website-vs-social-media-business/loc>
        <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

    <url>
        <loc>https://apexforge.co.za/blog/ai-face-recognition-explained</loc>
        <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
        <priority>0.8</priority>
    </url>

</urlset>