XML Sitemap
Serve an XML sitemap that gives search engines your article list and last-modified dates. Supports images and Google News, and leaves out noindex posts
A file that helps search engines find your articles sooner
"Sorabun > Measure / Analyze > XML Sitemap" serves the file that hands search engines the list of your articles (an XML sitemap). It is for Pro and administrators only, and does the same job as XML Sitemap Generator for Google.
WordPress itself serves /wp-sitemap.xml, but it lacks a few things. The Sorabun sitemap fills those gaps.
| WordPress core | Sorabun | |
|---|---|---|
| Last modified (lastmod) | Not included | Included (updated articles get re-crawled) |
| Images | Not included | Featured and in-content images (helps image search) |
| noindex posts | Listed anyway | Left out (reads Sorabun LP, Yoast and Rank Math settings) |
| Google News | None | Can serve a sitemap of the last 2 days of posts |
| Opened by a person | XSL | Readable as a table (XSL) |
priority and changefreq are not written. Google has stated that it does not use them.
How to use it
- Check "Serve the sitemap" and save
- Open the URL shown under "Current status" (usually
https://your-site/sitemap.xml) and check that your articles are listed - Press "Open Search Console" and submit that URL under "Sitemaps" (only the first time)
That is all. The sitemap is rebuilt automatically when you publish, update or delete an article.
What it does automatically
- Adds the line
Sitemap: https://your-site/sitemap.xmlto robots.txt. Bing and others find it there - Turns off the WordPress core sitemap. Requests for
/wp-sitemap.xmlare redirected here, so it is fine if you submitted the core sitemap to Search Console before - Splits files at 1,000 URLs so large sites do not load too much at once
- Keeps built files for 12 hours and throws them away when articles or categories change
Settings
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Post types | Choose from posts, pages and custom post types. The home page goes into the pages file (or the posts file if pages are not included) |
| Archive pages | Categories, tags and so on. Archives with no articles are left out. Thin tag or author pages can hurt rankings, so if unsure, include only categories |
| Author pages | Left out while the Security option "Keep login IDs from being looked up from outside" is on |
| Images | Featured and in-content images (absolute http/https URLs), up to 20 per article |
| Google News | Serves sitemap-news.xml with posts from the last 2 days. Use the same publication name you registered in Publisher Center |
| Excluded posts | Post or page IDs separated by commas or line breaks. Password-protected and noindex posts are left out without listing them here |
Avoid running two sitemaps
The screen warns you when Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO, SEOPress, The SEO Framework or XML Sitemap Generator for Google is serving a sitemap, or when a sitemap.xml file sits on the server. Two sitemaps confuse search engines about which one to read. If you use Sorabun, turn off the sitemap feature in the other plugin (a physical sitemap.xml file on the server is served before WordPress).
Troubleshooting
- "No sitemap is served" appears: "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" under Settings > Reading is on. Not serving a sitemap for an unlaunched site is the correct behavior
- /sitemap.xml shows "Not found": open Settings > Permalinks and save without changes. Sites using "Plain" permalinks get URLs like
/?sorabun_sitemap=index(use the URL shown on the screen) - Content looks old: a page cache plugin may be holding
/sitemap.xml. Clear the cache
The "Sitemap" item in the Technical Audit shows as fine while the Sorabun sitemap is on.