Search Console is open in another tab, the Sitemaps screen has a box asking for a URL, and you are not sure what to type in it, or whether your site even has a sitemap to give.
It almost certainly does. WordPress makes one on its own, and SEO plugins make a fuller one. Below: how to find its address, how to submit your WordPress sitemap to Google through Search Console, and how to read the report afterwards, including what it does not tell you. If the sitemap address gives an error when you open it, start with our guide to a WordPress sitemap that will not load and come back here once it opens.
What a sitemap is for
A sitemap is a list of the pages on your site that you would like search engines to know about, written in a format machines read easily (XML). It helps Google discover pages, particularly new ones and ones with few links pointing at them. It does not make Google index a page, and it does not affect where pages appear. Think of it as handing over a list, not as making a request that must be granted.
For a small site with a clear menu, Google would probably find your pages anyway. Submitting a sitemap is still worth the two minutes, because the Sitemaps report then shows you whether Google can read the list and how many addresses it found in it. Checking that report now and then fits into the routine described in our WordPress management guide, alongside updates and backups.
Find your sitemap URL
Do not guess the address. Look it up in whichever system is producing your sitemap:
- Yoast SEO: in Yoast’s settings, find the site features section. The XML sitemaps feature there has a link to view the sitemap.
- Rank Math: open the Sitemap Settings screen from the Rank Math menu. The sitemap address is shown near the top, with a link to open it.
- Another SEO or sitemap plugin: the plugin’s settings page usually shows the address.
- No SEO plugin: WordPress’s own sitemap lives at /wp-sitemap.xml on your domain.
Both Yoast and Rank Math normally use /sitemap_index.xml. Open whatever address you find in a private browser window. You should see a list, usually styled as a readable table, of smaller sitemaps for posts, pages and perhaps categories. Click into one or two. They should contain the addresses of real, public pages.
A quick sanity check while you are there: if the sitemap includes test pages, thank-you pages or anything else you would rather not see in search, mark those as noindex in your SEO plugin first. Our post on keeping a page out of Google shows how, and SEO plugins normally drop noindexed pages from the sitemap automatically.
Submit your WordPress sitemap to Google, step by step
You need a verified Search Console property for the site. If you have not set one up, connecting WordPress to Google Search Console walks through verification first.
- Sign in to Google Search Console and choose your site’s property from the menu at the top left.
- In the left-hand menu, under the Indexing section, open Sitemaps.
- Find the box for adding a new sitemap.
- Type the sitemap address. On a URL-prefix property your domain is already filled in, so you type only the end, such as sitemap_index.xml. On a Domain property, type the full address, including https:// and the right version of your domain.
- Press Submit.
Submit the index only. There is no need to add each smaller sitemap inside it separately, because Google reads the index and follows it to the rest.
What “submitted” means, and what it does not
After submitting, the sitemap appears in a table on the same page with a status, the date it was last read and a count of discovered pages. The status will be one of these:
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Success | Google fetched the file and could read it. | Nothing. Check back occasionally. |
| Has errors | Google read it but found problems in some entries. | Click the sitemap to see the details, then fix the entries in your SEO plugin. |
| Couldn’t fetch | Google could not retrieve the file at that point. | Confirm it opens in a private window. If it does, wait a few days before changing anything; the status often updates on its own. |
“Success” means Google has your list. It does not mean every page on the list is indexed. To see that, open the Pages report under Indexing. At the top you can filter it to show only pages from your submitted sitemaps, which tells you how many of your listed pages are indexed and the reasons the others are not. Some reasons, such as “Crawled – currently not indexed”, are Google’s decision about the page rather than a fault you can switch off.
After the first submission
You do not need to resubmit
Your SEO plugin updates the sitemap automatically whenever you publish or change a page. Google rechecks submitted sitemaps on its own schedule. Pressing Submit again every week does no harm but does nothing useful either. Resubmit only if the address itself changes, for example after switching SEO plugins, and remove the old address from the report when you do.
Older advice about pinging Google
Some older guides and plugins mention “pinging” Google with a sitemap address. Google has retired that method. The Sitemaps report, and a Sitemap line in your robots.txt file, are the ways to point Google at your sitemap now.
Bing and other search engines
Bing has its own Bing Webmaster Tools, which accepts sitemaps in much the same way and can import sites you have already verified in Google Search Console. It is worth doing once if your customers use Bing or Microsoft’s other services.
Common mistakes
- Submitting the wrong version of the domain. If your site loads at https://www.example.com, a sitemap at http://example.com is a different address that redirects. Use the exact version your site uses.
- Leaving an old sitemap listed. A sitemap from a plugin you removed years ago will show “Couldn’t fetch” forever. Remove it from the report so the status table reflects what is live.
- Expecting the sitemap to fix indexing. If good pages are not indexed, the answer is usually in the page itself or in how it is linked from the rest of the site, not in the sitemap. Our introduction to WordPress SEO covers the basics that matter more.
- Listing everything. Tag archives, author pages and attachment pages often add little. Your SEO plugin’s settings let you leave those content types out.
Once the sitemap shows Success, a look at the report every month or two is enough.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the discovered pages number lower than my page count?
The sitemap lists only what your SEO plugin includes, so drafts, private pages, noindexed pages and any content types you switched off are left out. Count what you expect to be public, then open the sub-sitemaps to see whether a whole section, such as products or services, is missing.
Do I need a separate sitemap for images?
Usually not. Yoast and Rank Math can include images that appear in your posts and pages within the normal sitemaps. A separate image sitemap is mainly useful for sites where images are the product, such as photographers. For a typical business site, the standard sitemap is enough.
Can I submit a sitemap before the site is finished?
You can, but it is better to wait until the pages you want found are published and the Discourage search engines box under Settings, Reading is unticked. A sitemap full of placeholder pages invites Google to look at them. Submit it on or shortly after launch day instead.
Should the sitemap also be listed in robots.txt?
It helps other search engines find it, and it does no harm alongside the Search Console submission. WordPress adds its own sitemap to the robots.txt it generates, and SEO plugins often add theirs. Open yourdomain/robots.txt and look for a Sitemap line with the same address you submitted.
A sitemap that stays in an error state after these checks usually points to something else on the site: a plugin conflict, a security rule turning Google away, or a server setting. That is the sort of fault our WordPress bug fixing team traces.
Next in this series: How to Connect WordPress to Google Search Console
