A sitemap is a list of the pages you want search engines to find. WordPress creates one automatically, and SEO plugins create a more detailed one. Submitting it to Google Search Console helps new pages get indexed and shows you which pages Google has trouble with.
Before you start
- A Google account.
- Access to cPanel → Domains → Zone Editor, or to your external DNS provider if your domain uses other nameservers.
- Check Settings → Reading in WordPress: Discourage search engines from indexing this site must be unticked on a live site.
Find your sitemap
| Source | Usual sitemap URL |
|---|---|
| WordPress core | /wp-sitemap.xml |
| Yoast SEO | /sitemap_index.xml |
| Rank Math | /sitemap_index.xml |
| All in One SEO | /sitemap.xml |
When an SEO plugin provides a sitemap, it normally disables the core one. Open the URL in your browser; you should see a list of sitemap files or URLs.
Verify your site in Search Console
- Go to Google Search Console and click Add property.
- Choose Domain and enter
example.com(withouthttps://orwww). This covers all versions of the site. - Copy the TXT record Google shows.
- In cPanel → Domains → Zone Editor click Manage next to the domain, then Add Record, type TXT, name
example.com., and paste the value. Save. - Back in Search Console click Verify. If it fails, wait 15–30 minutes and try again.
Keep the TXT record in place; removing it can remove your access.
Submit the sitemap
- In Search Console open Indexing → Sitemaps.
- Enter the sitemap path, for example
sitemap_index.xml, and click Submit. - The status should change to Success and show the number of discovered pages.
Keep the sitemap clean
- Exclude thin pages such as tag archives, author archives on single-author sites, and attachment pages in your SEO plugin.
- Only include pages that return status 200 and are not set to
noindex. - Make sure the sitemap uses your final
https://address.
Read the indexing report
Open Indexing → Pages to see which pages are indexed and why others are not. Common reasons:
- Crawled – currently not indexed: Google saw the page but did not find it valuable enough yet; improve the content and internal links.
- Excluded by 'noindex' tag: intended for some pages; check it is not on important ones.
- Not found (404): add redirects for moved pages.
- Page with redirect: normal for old URLs; make sure the sitemap lists only final URLs.
Use URL Inspection on a new important page and click Request indexing.
Troubleshooting
- Sitemap could not be read: a security plugin, Cloudflare rule or cached error page blocks it. Open the URL in a private window and check for errors; purge LiteSpeed Cache.
- Sitemap shows 404: re-save Settings → Permalinks, which rebuilds the rewrite rules for sitemap URLs.
- Verification fails: the TXT record was added in cPanel while the domain uses other nameservers.
- Discovered pages count is far lower than expected: your SEO plugin excludes some post types, or many posts are set to noindex.
Bing and other search engines
Submit the same sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools, which can import your verified sites directly from Google Search Console. You can also add a Sitemap: line with the full sitemap URL to your robots.txt so every crawler finds it; most SEO plugins add this automatically to WordPress's virtual robots.txt.