Back in 2005, Google launched the XML Sitemap protocol and it was a pivotal moment for technical SEO. Two decades later, sitemaps remain foundational.
Sitemaps help search engines discover and understand your content. If bots can’t find or crawl important URLs reliably, you’ll struggle to get indexed and earn traffic—no matter how polished your WordPress site looks.
So why do you need a WordPress sitemap, and what exactly does it do? Below, you’ll learn the essentials and how to add, tune, and submit a sitemap the right way.
Let’s get started.
What is a WordPress Sitemap?
A sitemap is a machine-readable file (usually XML) that lists your site’s indexable URLs and supporting metadata.
Search engine crawlers use this file to discover new and updated content efficiently. When your sitemap is accurate and clean, it reduces missed pages, speeds up discovery of fresh updates, and improves the overall crawl coverage of your site.
Think of it as a structured, up-to-date map of your website tailored for search engines.
It doesn’t replace a strong site architecture, but it does improve discoverability and indexing consistency—especially for large, frequently updated, or media-heavy sites.
2 Plugins to Run WordPress Sitemaps Automatically
Most modern WordPress sites expose a default XML sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml. That’s enough for many blogs and business sites. If you need granular control (exclude post types/taxonomies, split large sitemaps, image/video sitemaps, custom lastmod rules), use one of these plugins. I’ve used both extensively across many WordPress installs.
Below are two reliable tools to manage your WordPress sitemap with precision.
All in One SEO
The All in One SEO sitemap module lets you include or exclude specific post types and taxonomies, split large sitemaps, and fine-tune lastmod behavior. You can also exclude thin or utility URLs to keep the sitemap focused on pages you actually want indexed.
Historically, plugins could “ping” search engines to announce updates. Today, the best practice is to keep an accurate sitemap and submit it once in your webmaster tools; crawlers revisit it automatically. Use AIOSEO’s controls to maintain a clean, error-free sitemap that aligns with your indexing strategy.
Yoast SEO
If you’re already running Yoast, turning on XML sitemaps is straightforward. Install and activate Yoast SEO (Premium) and use its sitemap settings to include or exclude content types, remove low-value archives, and keep your sitemap refreshed automatically whenever content changes.
Yoast generates a sitemap index (e.g., /sitemap_index.xml) that splits large sites into smaller, crawl-friendly files and updates lastmod timestamps when posts change—helpful signals for more efficient recrawling.
The Basics of WordPress Sitemap
Keep these fundamentals in mind as you configure your sitemap and integrate it into your broader technical SEO workflow.
XML vs. HTML
You’ll encounter two types of sitemaps: XML and HTML.
XML sitemaps are for crawlers. They include your URLs plus metadata like the most recent modification date (lastmod). This helps search engines discover new or updated content efficiently.
HTML sitemaps are human-friendly pages that link to key sections, improving navigation and internal linking. They don’t replace menus or breadcrumbs, but they can aid discoverability—especially on complex sites.
Bottom line: XML is for bots; HTML is for people. Many sites benefit from having both.
Tip: Keep HTML sitemaps short and useful—link to priority sections and cornerstone content rather than every URL on the site.
Ensures Faster and More Prioritized Crawls
The practical benefit of an XML sitemap is improved discovery and recrawl efficiency. While you can’t “force” priority, accurate lastmod timestamps help crawlers focus on what changed. For media-heavy sites, include image and video entries (your SEO plugin can generate these) to improve asset discovery.
Ignore legacy fields like <priority> and <changefreq>—major search engines largely disregard them. Focus on completeness, cleanliness, and correct lastmod.
XML sitemaps are especially helpful for large catalogs, faceted content, or sites with sections that are hard to reach with standard navigation alone.
Not a Replacement for Internal Link Structure
Sitemaps complement, not replace, solid internal linking. Make sure every important page is reachable via contextual links and menus. This distributes PageRank internally and helps search engines understand relationships and hierarchy.
Remember: including a URL in your sitemap doesn’t guarantee indexing. Strong internal links, helpful content, and crawlable templates still carry the day.
Submitting Sitemaps to Major Search Engines
After you generate a sitemap, submit it once in your webmaster tools and keep it up to date. In Google Search Console, open the Sitemaps report, enter the path to your sitemap (for example, wp-sitemap.xml or sitemap_index.xml), and submit. Google will recheck it periodically.
You can also reference your sitemap in /robots.txt with a line like Sitemap: https://example.com/wp-sitemap.xml. This helps crawlers find it even if you don’t submit manually.
For Bing, sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap from the Sitemaps section. If you’ve already verified your site in Search Console, you can import your properties to speed up setup.
Once submitted, monitor processing status and any reported errors (invalid URLs, unreachable files, or disallowed paths) and fix them promptly.
5 Tricks for WordPress Sitemap
Use these practical tactics to keep your sitemap clean, useful, and aligned with modern crawler behavior.
Prioritize Your Web Pages
Don’t rely on the legacy <priority> setting—search engines mostly ignore it. Instead, “prioritize” by curating what goes into your sitemap:
• Include high-value, indexable pages that you want to rank.
• Exclude thin, duplicate, utility, or parameter URLs (e.g., internal search results).
• Keep category/tag archives only if they’re useful and unique; otherwise exclude them.
• Ensure lastmod updates when content truly changes, not just small template tweaks.
This approach results in a smaller, higher-quality sitemap that’s easier for crawlers to process and for you to maintain.
Maintain the High Quality of Your Web Pages
Overall site quality influences crawl allocation and index selection. If your sitemap points to thousands of low-value URLs, you dilute signals and waste crawl budget.
Audit regularly. Consolidate duplicate content, deindex boilerplate archives, enrich thin pages with unique value (images, video, data, FAQs), and remove dead-end URLs. Keep the sitemap focused on pages that satisfy searcher intent.
Analyze Sitemap Reporting
In Search Console’s indexing reports, compare “Submitted” vs. “Indexed” pages and review “Excluded” reasons. Patterns like Alternate page with proper canonical tag, Discovered – currently not indexed, or Duplicate, Google chose different canonical indicate issues to fix in content, canonicals, or internal linking.
If you see Google indexing URLs you don’t want, remove them from the sitemap and add a proper noindex signal (see below). Keep iterating until “Submitted” closely matches “Indexed.”
Swap Robots.txt With Meta Tag Wherever Possible
Use <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow"> (or an X-Robots-Tag header) for pages you don’t want indexed but still want crawled for link equity. Avoid blocking those URLs in robots.txt, because if bots can’t crawl the page, they can’t see your noindex tag.
Reserve robots.txt disallows for true crawl-waste (endless parameters, system directories) or sensitive areas where crawling isn’t appropriate. For everything else, let bots crawl and serve a clear indexing directive.
Pick Dynamic Sitemaps Over Large Websites
For big or frequently updated sites, use plugin-generated (dynamic) sitemaps that automatically add and remove URLs as content changes. Configure rules to exclude low-value sections, split large sets by type/date, and keep each child sitemap under recommended URL and file-size limits.
Dynamic sitemaps are faster to maintain, less error-prone, and always reflect your current content—exactly what crawlers expect in 2025.
Where to Find Your Sitemap URL (Quick Reference)
Common locations include: /wp-sitemap.xml (WordPress core), /sitemap_index.xml (Yoast), or /sitemap.xml (AIOSEO). Check your plugin’s settings to confirm, then submit that exact path in your webmaster tools and list it in /robots.txt.