Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console is one of the first things to do with a new WordPress site, and one of the few SEO tasks that takes five minutes and then mostly looks after itself. A sitemap lists the URLs you want search engines to find. Submitting it tells Google exactly where that list lives.
This step-by-step guide covers finding the correct sitemap URL, verifying your site, submitting the sitemap, reading the results, and fixing the errors people run into most.
Step 1: Find your sitemap URL
This is where most confusion starts, because a WordPress site can have more than one sitemap.
- WordPress core has generated a sitemap at
/wp-sitemap.xmlsince version 5.5. - SEO plugins usually disable the core one and generate their own, at their own address.
With Impex Rank SEO active, your sitemap index is at:
https://yoursite.com/impex-sitemap.xmlThe plugin switches off the core /wp-sitemap.xml so you do not end up with two competing sitemaps. Its index links to separate sitemaps for each post type and taxonomy, includes your images, and is styled so it reads like a normal page in the browser.
Whatever plugin you use, the rule is the same: only one sitemap generator should be active. If you recently switched SEO plugins, check which sitemap actually loads before submitting anything.
A quick tip: open https://yoursite.com/robots.txt. Most SEO plugins add a Sitemap: line there that shows the current address.
Step 2: Add and verify your site in Search Console
Go to Google Search Console and sign in with a Google account. Click Add property. You will see two property types.
Domain property
Covers every version of your site: http and https, with and without www, and all subdomains. You verify it by adding a DNS TXT record at your domain registrar or DNS provider. It is the most complete option, but DNS changes can take a few hours to take effect, and some people find the registrar panel intimidating.
URL-prefix property
Covers only the exact address you enter, for example https://yoursite.com/. It offers several verification methods. The easiest on WordPress is the HTML tag: Google gives you a meta tag like this:
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="abc123xyz..." />You do not need to edit your theme to add it. In Impex Rank SEO, go to Impex Rank SEO → Tools, find Search engine verification, and paste the code (or the whole tag) into the Google Search Console field. Save, go back to Search Console and click Verify.
The same Tools screen has fields for Bing, Pinterest, Yandex and Baidu, so you can do all of them at once.
Step 3: Submit the sitemap
- In Search Console, select your property.
- In the left menu, open Indexing → Sitemaps.
- Under Add a new sitemap, type the path after your domain, for example
impex-sitemap.xml. - Click Submit.
Submit the index only. You do not need to add each child sitemap; Google follows the links inside the index.
Step 4: Read the status
After submission, the sitemap appears in the Submitted sitemaps table with a status:
- Success. Google fetched and read the sitemap. The "Discovered pages" count shows how many URLs it found. This does not mean every page is indexed.
- Couldn't fetch. Google could not download the file. It sometimes appears for a short while right after submitting, but if it persists, see the troubleshooting section below.
- Has errors. Google downloaded the file but found problems inside it. Click the row to see details.
Click a sitemap to open it, then See page indexing to find out which of its URLs are indexed and why others are not.
Troubleshooting common sitemap problems
The sitemap shows a 404
The sitemap URL is generated by WordPress rewrite rules. If those have not been refreshed after installing a plugin, the address 404s. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes without changing anything. That flushes the rules. Also double-check you are opening the right address; /sitemap.xml and /wp-sitemap.xml are not the same as /impex-sitemap.xml.
It opens for you but Google cannot fetch it
- Security plugins or firewalls sometimes block Googlebot or unusual user agents. Check their logs and allow-lists.
- Caching or CDN rules can serve a stale or broken copy. Exclude XML sitemaps from page caching and purge.
- Hosting "bot protection" challenges can stop crawlers. Ask your host.
Use URL Inspection → Test live URL on the sitemap address to see what Google receives.
robots.txt is blocking it
Open /robots.txt. A line like Disallow: / blocks everything. Also check Settings → Reading that "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" is not ticked, a common leftover from development.
Pages in the sitemap are marked noindex
A page should never be both in your sitemap and set to noindex; it sends mixed signals. Impex Rank SEO avoids this automatically by excluding anything you have set to noindex. With other setups, check the sitemap does not list pages you have hidden.
Discovered pages are lower than expected
Check which post types and taxonomies are included. In Impex Rank SEO, that is controlled under Impex Rank SEO → Sitemaps.
After submitting: keep it simple
You do not need to resubmit. Your sitemap updates itself whenever you publish, and Google re-reads submitted sitemaps on its own schedule. Google retired its old sitemap "ping" endpoint in 2023, so plugins that claim to ping Google on publish are no longer doing anything useful there.
Add Bing too. In Bing Webmaster Tools you can import sites straight from Google Search Console, which also verifies them, then submit the same sitemap. Bing and other engines also support IndexNow, which tells them about a new or updated URL the moment you publish. Impex Rank SEO handles that automatically; see our guide on setting up IndexNow in WordPress. Google does not participate in IndexNow, so the Search Console sitemap is still how you keep Google informed.
Give visitors a sitemap as well. An HTML sitemap is a plain page listing your content, useful for people and for internal linking. Add the [impex_html_sitemap] shortcode to any page and the plugin builds it, grouped by post type and taxonomy.
More detail is in the sitemap documentation.
Frequently asked questions
What is my WordPress sitemap URL?
Since WordPress 5.5, core creates one at /wp-sitemap.xml. Most SEO plugins switch that off and use their own instead. With Impex Rank SEO active, your sitemap index is at /impex-sitemap.xml.
Do I need to resubmit my sitemap every time I publish a post?
No. Submit it once. Google re-reads submitted sitemaps on its own schedule, and the sitemap updates automatically when you publish. Google retired its sitemap ping endpoint in 2023, so there is nothing to ping.
Why does Search Console say Couldn't fetch?
Usually the URL returns an error or is blocked. Open the sitemap in a private browser window, refresh permalinks if it shows a 404, check that a security or caching plugin is not blocking Googlebot, and make sure robots.txt does not disallow it. A newly submitted sitemap can also show this briefly.
Should I submit my sitemap to Bing as well?
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools can import your verified sites from Google Search Console, and you can submit the same sitemap there. Bing also supports IndexNow, which notifies it the moment you publish.
Does submitting a sitemap guarantee my pages will be indexed?
No. A sitemap helps Google discover your URLs. Whether a page is indexed still depends on its quality, whether it duplicates other pages, and whether it is blocked by noindex or robots.txt.
Get a clean sitemap in two minutes
Install Impex Rank SEO free from WordPress.org, or search for "Impex Rank SEO" under Plugins → Add New. You get XML and HTML sitemaps, verification fields, IndexNow, schema and redirects, all free. See the full list on the features page.
