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Submit Your Sitemap

The sitemap index is at /sitemap.xml and is already named in robots.txt. Submit that one address in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools; the per-type files are linked from it.

Updated September 22, 2026

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Your sitemap index is https://your-site.com/sitemap.xml. In Google Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste sitemap.xml and click Submit; in Bing Webmaster Tools, open Sitemaps and submit the full address. Both engines then read the per-type files the index lists. WP Visibility also adds a Sitemap: line to your robots.txt, so crawlers that read robots.txt find it without a submission.

Find it

With the Sitemaps module on (it is on by default), the settings screen shows a View sitemap.xml link in the Sitemaps section. The index links one file per post type and per taxonomy, numbered from 1:

/sitemap.xml
/sitemap-posts-post-1.xml
/sitemap-posts-page-1.xml
/sitemap-terms-category-1.xml
/sitemap-terms-post_tag-1.xml

The files are generated on request and cached; nothing is written to disk, and the addresses work on plain permalinks too. WordPress’s own /wp-sitemap.xml is turned off while the module is on and comes back if you turn it off. The XML carries an X-Robots-Tag: noindex header, which is normal for a sitemap: it keeps the file itself out of results without affecting the pages it lists.

What it lists

  • Every published post, page and public custom post type entry, except attachments, password-protected posts, and anything set to Noindex.
  • Term archives (categories, tags, custom taxonomies) that contain at least one post, minus noindexed terms and taxonomies.
  • Each post’s modified date as lastmod. Terms carry no date.
  • The featured image of each post when Include featured images is on, which it is by default.
  • Up to the number set in URLs per sitemap page per file (1,000 by default, 2,000 at most); larger sets continue in -2.xml and so on.

Video and news sitemaps are not generated.

Submit it

Google Search Console. Choose the property, open Sitemaps in the left menu, enter sitemap.xml under “Add a new sitemap” and submit. The report shows when Google last read it and how many URLs it found. Submission asks Google to read the file; it does not promise that every listed page is indexed.

Bing Webmaster Tools. Open Sitemaps, click Submit sitemap, enter the full address. Bing shares the result with the engines that use its index.

If you verify either service with a meta tag, paste the code into the Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools field of the Site verification section, then finish verification on the service. Instructions checked against both services on September 22, 2026.

Exclude a post type or taxonomy

  • A post type: tick it under Exclude post types from the sitemap in the Sitemaps section. The pages stay indexable; they are simply not listed. A type ticked under Indexing → Noindex these post types leaves the sitemap too.
  • A taxonomy: there is no separate sitemap setting. Tick it under Indexing → Noindex these taxonomy archives, which removes its archives from both search and the sitemap.
  • One page: set it to Noindex, or leave it indexable and accept that it is listed. There is no per-page “hide from sitemap” that keeps the page indexable.

Refresh a stale sitemap

Files are cached for up to a week. Saving or deleting a post, or editing or deleting a term, clears the cache, and the next request rebuilds the file. If a change reached the database another way and the sitemap still shows the old state, run:

wp visibility flush

It marks the cache stale; the files regenerate on their next request. A page cache or CDN in front of your site may hold its own copy for as long as its rules say, so purge that too if the live file lags.

There is no scheduled ping to Google or Bing after a publish. The optional IndexNow module (off by default) tells Bing and Yandex about changed URLs as they publish; Google does not take part. Noindexed and password-protected posts are never announced.