An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages of your website in a structured format that search engines can easily read. It serves as a roadmap for crawlers like Googlebot, helping them discover and index your content more efficiently.
Why XML Sitemaps Matter
- Faster discovery — Search engines find new and updated content more quickly.
- Priority hints — You can indicate which pages are most important.
- Change frequency — Tell search engines how often content changes.
- Last modified date — Help crawlers know when a page was last updated.
WordPress and Sitemaps
Since WordPress 5.5, a basic XML sitemap is generated automatically at /wp-sitemap.xml. However, many site owners prefer using SEO plugins (like Yoast SEO or Rank Math) that generate more comprehensive sitemaps with additional features:
- Image sitemaps
- Video sitemaps
- News sitemaps
- Exclude specific pages or post types
- Split large sitemaps into smaller files
Sitemap Structure
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2025-01-15</lastmod>
<priority>1.0</priority>
</url>
</urlset>What InspectWP Checks
InspectWP checks whether your WordPress site has an accessible XML sitemap. It looks for the sitemap URL in your robots.txt file and tries common paths like /sitemap.xml and /wp-sitemap.xml.