XML Sitemap: How to Create, Validate and Submit It to Google

An XML sitemap is the map you hand Google to say which pages on your site exist and deserve to be found. It seems like a minor technical detail, but a misconfigured sitemap can hide important pages or, worse, steer Google into wasting time on URLs you never wanted indexed. Setting it up right takes a few minutes and prevents a series of silent problems.

This guide explains what an XML sitemap is, what should and shouldn’t go in it, how to set it up on WordPress, how to submit it to Google and how to use the coverage report to find pages that aren’t being indexed.

What Is an XML Sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file listing the URLs of your site’s pages in a format search engines understand easily. Think of it as an organized index you hand to Google, saying “here are the pages I want you to know about”.

It’s not a guarantee of indexing. Google treats the sitemap as a suggestion, a hint about where to start and what to prioritize. But it’s a valuable hint, especially for large or new sites where Google’s bot might take a while to find every page on its own.

The sitemap works together with the crawler, the bot that travels the web. While the crawler discovers pages by following links, the sitemap delivers a ready-made list, speeding up discovery. Together they’re part of the technical SEO foundation that supports everything else.

Why the Sitemap Matters for SEO

The sitemap solves a specific problem: making sure Google finds the pages that matter, even those with few internal links pointing to them.

On small, well-structured sites, Google usually finds everything naturally by following links. But on larger sites with hundreds or thousands of pages, or new sites without authority yet, some pages can slip through. The sitemap makes sure none stays invisible for lack of a path to it.

It also helps Google understand the structure and hierarchy of your content. When the sitemap is clean and organized, the bot spends its time on the right pages instead of getting lost in irrelevant URLs. That ties into crawl budget, the amount of attention Google gives your site on each visit, a resource you shouldn’t waste.

What Should Go in the Sitemap

Not every page on your site belongs in the sitemap. The rule is simple: include what you want to appear in search results.

Include pages that create value and that you want to rank: the homepage, service pages, blog posts, relevant categories and any content that answers a real search. These are the pages that represent your work and that you want customers to find.

The sitemap should only contain URLs that load normally, without errors or redirects. A URL that redirects or errors shouldn’t be in the sitemap, because it sends Google a contradictory signal: it expects to find only live, final pages there.

What Shouldn’t Go in the Sitemap

This is where many people go wrong. Putting the wrong pages in the sitemap wastes Google’s attention.

Leave out technical or low-value pages, like login pages, thank-you pages after a form or internal site search results. They exist for navigation, not to rank.

Also leave out tag pages when they produce thin, duplicate content. On many WordPress blogs, tags create dozens of nearly empty pages that compete with real content. Ideally, keep them out of the sitemap and set them to noindex.

Pages with a canonical tag pointing to another URL shouldn’t be listed either, since you yourself said they aren’t the official version. And any URL you moved with a 301 redirect must leave the sitemap, because the final address is now a different one.

How to Set Up the Sitemap on WordPress

On WordPress, the most practical way to generate a sitemap is with an SEO plugin. Your site probably already uses one, and it generates the sitemap automatically, updating it whenever you publish or remove a page.

The ten-minute path goes like this. First, confirm the SEO plugin is generating the sitemap and find its URL, usually something ending in sitemap.xml or sitemap_index.xml. Second, open that URL in your browser and check what’s listed. Third, use the plugin settings to exclude content types that don’t belong, like tag pages and other thin content.

Plugins usually split the sitemap into several smaller files: an index pointing to sub-sitemaps for posts, pages, categories and other content types. That’s normal and even recommended for content-heavy sites, because it makes reading easier for Google and helps pinpoint problems by section.

After setting it up, review it. A sitemap with the wrong pages is as problematic as having no sitemap, so that final check is worth the time.

How to Submit the Sitemap to Google

Generating the sitemap is half the job. The other half is telling Google it exists.

You submit it through Google Search Console, in the Sitemaps section. You enter your sitemap URL and Google starts using it as a reference. Once submitted, you don’t need to resubmit after every post, because the plugin updates the file automatically and Google rereads it periodically.

It’s also worth pointing to the sitemap inside your robots.txt file, the first place Google’s bot checks when it reaches your site. That way, even if something slips past Search Console, the bot finds the sitemap right away. We cover this in detail in our guide on what robots.txt is.

How to Use the Coverage Report

After you submit the sitemap, Search Console shows a valuable report: which pages were indexed, which weren’t and why.

That report is a gold mine for finding problems. If an important page shows as not indexed, the report usually gives the reason: a blocking tag, an error, a canonical pointing elsewhere or simply that Google hasn’t processed it yet. Each reason points to a different fix.

Following that report regularly turns the sitemap from a static file into a diagnostic tool. That’s why coverage analysis is central to any SEO audit: it reveals, page by page, what Google can and can’t index on your site.

Frequently Asked Questions About XML Sitemaps

Do I need to create the sitemap manually?

No. On WordPress, the SEO plugin generates and updates the sitemap automatically whenever you publish or remove content. Creating it manually only makes sense in very specific situations outside the normal WordPress workflow.

Does the sitemap guarantee my pages will be indexed?

No, it’s a suggestion to Google, not an order. The sitemap speeds up discovery and shows your priorities, but indexing depends on other factors, like page quality and the absence of technical blocks. It raises the odds, not the certainty.

How often should I update the sitemap?

With an SEO plugin, updates happen automatically with every content change. You don’t need to do anything by hand. What matters is checking now and then that the sitemap is still clean, with no pages that shouldn’t be there.

Should I include images in the sitemap?

It can help sites that rely on image search traffic, like portfolios and stores. Many plugins generate a separate image sitemap. For most service sites, though, the page sitemap covers the essentials.

Are pages left out of the sitemap excluded from Google?

Not necessarily. Google can still find those pages by following internal and external links. Being left out of the sitemap doesn’t block indexing; it just removes that direct hint. To actually block a page, you need a noindex tag, which is different from omitting it from the sitemap.

Why does a page show as “Discovered, currently not indexed”?

That status usually means Google knows about the page through the sitemap or links but hasn’t processed it yet or decided not to index it, often for priority reasons or because it considers the content not relevant enough. Improving page quality and strengthening its internal links usually helps change that status.

Make Sure Google Sees What Matters

A well-configured sitemap is a few minutes of work that prevents months of invisible pages. A poorly built one does the opposite: it hides what matters and wastes Google’s attention on what doesn’t.

Request an SEO audit from Malamute Digital and find out whether your sitemap is giving Google the right pages, with the care of a team that treats technical SEO as the foundation for everything else.