The quickest way to find a Yoast sitemap URL is in WordPress: open Yoast SEO → Settings → Site features, find Technical SEO → XML sitemaps, make sure it is enabled (the control shows a purple checkmark), and click View the XML sitemap. The browser will open your sitemap index, normally at https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xml.
Find the URL from the WordPress dashboard
- Sign in to WordPress with an account that can open Yoast SEO settings.
- In the left dashboard menu, select Yoast SEO.
- Open Settings, then choose Site features.
- Scroll to Technical SEO and locate XML sitemaps.
- Turn the feature on if it is disabled. Yoast indicates the enabled state with a purple checkmark.
- Click View the XML sitemap. Yoast’s documented instruction is: “To view the sitemap, click View the XML sitemap.”
- Copy the address from your browser if you need to submit or share it.
If your installed Yoast version uses slightly different labels, use the settings navigation or search and look for the XML sitemaps control under Site features. Dashboard wording can change, but the current Yoast path places the control there. The sitemap workflow is documented by Yoast in its official documentation.
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What the Yoast sitemap URL looks like
For a typical site, the index URL is:
https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xml
Replace the example host with your real domain and use the protocol configured for the WordPress site. If WordPress is installed in a subdirectory, include that path where applicable. Yoast also documents a non-pretty form:
https://your-domain.example/?sitemap=1
The pretty /sitemap_index.xml address is normally the one you share. The non-pretty form is useful for diagnosing rewrite problems.
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What opens at the index
A sitemap index is an XML document containing links to individual sitemap files. Depending on your site, those files can cover posts, pages, authors, categories, tags and other taxonomies. The exact list is controlled by the site’s content types and search-visibility settings. It is therefore not safe to assume that every URL on the site appears in the index.
Content removed from search results, or content set to noindex, may be excluded intentionally. A missing URL is not automatically a sitemap-generation failure.
Yoast says sitemap responses use an X-Robots-Tag value of noindex, follow. Search engines can still fetch and parse these XML files; the sitemap itself does not need to be indexed as a normal search result.
Yoast SEO sitemap versus the WordPress core sitemap
WordPress also has a built-in XML sitemap feature, so a site can expose a sitemap even when Yoast’s feature is off. These are separate generators and should not be confused.
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| Aspect | Yoast SEO sitemap | WordPress core sitemap |
|---|---|---|
| Usual address | /sitemap_index.xml (Yoast’s pretty URL) |
Separate WordPress core sitemap endpoint |
| Control | Yoast SEO → Settings → Site features → XML sitemaps | WordPress core functionality |
| Effect of disabling Yoast XML sitemaps | Yoast’s implementation is disabled | Core sitemap is not disabled by that action and may remain available |
| Contents | Sub-sitemaps shaped by Yoast content and search-visibility settings | Structure generated by WordPress core |
When troubleshooting or submitting a sitemap, identify which generator produced the URL. Yoast says its sitemap feature can automatically disable the default WordPress sitemap while Yoast sitemaps are enabled; turning Yoast off does not necessarily remove the core endpoint.
If the XML sitemap link is missing
Check that Yoast is active
Confirm that the Yoast SEO plugin is installed and active. A deactivated or incomplete installation will not expose its settings screen.
Check permissions
Your WordPress account must be able to access Yoast settings. Ask an administrator to perform the steps or grant the appropriate dashboard access.
Check the feature state
Open Yoast SEO → Settings → Site features and verify that XML sitemaps are enabled. If the control is absent, use the settings search/navigation for “XML sitemaps.” WordPress core may still provide a separate sitemap even when this Yoast control is off.
When /sitemap_index.xml shows an error
Compare the pretty and non-pretty URLs
Open both the normal URL and the documented alternative:
https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xmlhttps://your-domain.example/?sitemap=1
If the second address works but the first fails, the likely issue is server rewriting rather than the XML content itself. Yoast provides separate guidance for Apache and NGINX. Use the guide matching your server; do not paste Apache rules into an NGINX configuration, or the reverse. If you do not control the server configuration, contact your host or server administrator. Yoast’s troubleshooting material includes the diagnostic question, “How do I know if I need to add the rewrite rules?”
Check for a wrong page or redirect
Inspect the final address in the browser and the response content. A redirect to a generic page, login screen or 404 page usually indicates a rewrite, security, redirect or caching rule outside the sitemap settings.
Why the sitemap looks stale
Yoast says its sitemaps normally update automatically when content is added, edited or deleted. A plugin, server cache, CDN or host-level cache can continue serving an older XML response.
- Clear the WordPress caching plugin, if one is installed.
- Purge any host or CDN cache that includes XML responses.
- Reload the sitemap in a private browser window and compare it with the expected content.
- Check whether a cache exclusion is needed for sitemap URLs.
- If the output remains stale, disable and re-enable the Yoast sitemap feature, where applicable, to force an update.
Cache behavior varies by hosting stack, so clear each layer that can store the response rather than repeatedly changing post settings.
When a post or page is absent
Review search visibility
Open the content type’s Yoast and WordPress search-visibility settings. Yoast removes content types that are excluded from search results from its sitemap, and a page marked noindex is not included. This can be the intended result.
Check the content type
Look for the corresponding post, page, author, category or taxonomy sitemap in the index. A site with no published items of a particular type may not expose a useful sub-sitemap for it.
Check publication and access rules
Drafts, private content and content blocked by site configuration should not be expected to appear as publicly crawlable sitemap entries. Verify that the URL is publicly reachable before treating its absence as an error.
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Yoast’s common XML sitemap error guidance says sitemap URLs use the same protocol as the WordPress Site URL. In WordPress, check the configured site address and whether it uses http or https. Correct the site URL configuration first; do not manually edit individual sitemap links to compensate for a wrong canonical host. See Yoast’s troubleshooting page, Common XML sitemap errors, for this class of problem.
Verify the URL before submitting it
- Open the index in a browser and confirm it displays XML, not an HTML error page.
- Click one or more child sitemap links and verify that they load.
- Check that the host, protocol and any WordPress subdirectory are correct.
- Confirm that intentionally noindexed content is absent rather than expecting every URL.
- If you changed content recently, clear relevant caches before judging the result.
After these checks, submit the sitemap index URL—not each child file separately—to the search engine or service that accepts sitemap submissions.
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If you need a visual capture of the sitemap or another page for documentation, ScreenshotNeo can return a screenshot or PDF from one request. It is separate from Yoast and does not generate or validate XML; it simply captures the URL you provide.
cURL (see the ScreenshotNeo API documentation):
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xml -o sitemap.webp
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Python:
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xml"}, timeout=90)
open("sitemap.webp", "wb").write(r.content)
Node.js:
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://your-domain.example/sitemap_index.xml' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
Before capture, ScreenshotNeo accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets; each step can be disabled. Bot checks, CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits are not billed, and response headers identify the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info and capture_pdf tools for Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients. The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use the sitemap URL without Yoast Premium?
The documented XML sitemap control is part of Yoast’s standard settings path; the instructions do not establish that Premium is required.
Should I submit sitemap_index.xml or a child sitemap?
Use the Yoast sitemap index so the submitted URL points search systems to the relevant child sitemaps.
Is a sitemap supposed to list every page?
No. Yoast can omit content types excluded from search results or marked noindex, and the index only lists applicable child sitemaps.
Why does the XML display as text in my browser?
That is normal for an XML document. What matters is that the response contains a sitemap index and links to readable child sitemap files rather than an HTML error page.
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