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Fix guide · WordPress

How to Create an XML Sitemap in WordPress (2026)

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important URLs on your site, helping Google and Bing discover and index them faster. WordPress doesn't create a sitemap by default (pre-5.5 installs have none; 5.5+ added a basic one). Most sites benefit from an SEO plugin sitemap that gives you control over what's included.

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Why it matters

What this issue costs you

Sitemaps are especially important for new sites, large sites, and sites with pages that aren't well internally linked. They accelerate discovery and provide crawl metadata (last-modified date, priority). Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console is one of the simplest ranking boosts available.

Step-by-step

How to fix: Missing XML sitemap

WordPress

  1. 1

    Option A: Enable the Yoast SEO sitemap

    Go to Yoast SEO → General → Features. Toggle "XML Sitemaps" on. Your sitemap will be available at https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml. Click the "?" icon next to the toggle to open the sitemap directly and verify it lists your posts, pages and custom post types.

  2. 2

    Option B: Enable the Rank Math sitemap

    Go to Rank Math → General Settings → Sitemap. Toggle it on. Your sitemap will appear at https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml. Configure which post types and taxonomies to include under Rank Math → Sitemap → Content Sitemap.

  3. 3

    Option C: Use the built-in WordPress sitemap (5.5+)

    WordPress 5.5 and later generates a basic sitemap at https://yoursite.com/wp-sitemap.xml automatically. It includes posts, pages, authors and taxonomies. If you are not using an SEO plugin, visit this URL to confirm it exists. You can extend it using the wp_sitemaps_* filter hooks.

  4. 4

    Submit to Google Search Console

    Go to Google Search Console → Sitemaps. Enter the path to your sitemap (e.g. sitemap_index.xml) and click Submit. GSC will start processing it and report how many URLs were discovered vs indexed. Check back in 24–48 hours.

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After applying the steps above, paste your URL below. Our checker will re-run every applicable check and show whether missing xml sitemap still shows as a failing check.

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FAQ

Common questions about missing xml sitemap

Should my sitemap include every page on my WordPress site?

No — only URLs you want Google to index. Exclude admin pages, thank-you pages, cart pages, author archives you don't care about, and any pages set to noindex. Yoast and Rank Math let you configure this per post type.

How often should WordPress update the sitemap?

SEO plugin sitemaps are generated dynamically — they update immediately when you publish or update content. There's nothing to schedule.

Should I put the sitemap URL in robots.txt?

Yes. Add "Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml" to your robots.txt. This lets all crawlers (not just Google) find your sitemap without needing to look it up. Yoast does this automatically when both features are enabled.

While you're here

Related fix guides for WordPress

Missing robots.txtWordPress→www / non-www inconsistencyWordPress→Missing canonical tagWordPress→

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