How to Find the Sitemap of a WordPress Website: Flawlessly

Do you think how search engines will find your site? It is all because of the sitemaps. They are the roadmaps that guide Google about the content. If you are unaware of how to find the sitemap of a WordPress website, you have landed on the right article. Here we will discuss the complete process of finding the sitemap in detail. So, let’s get started.

Find Sitemap Using Standard URL Method

One of the simplest methods is to check the URL of your site and then enter the sitemap.xml. For instance, your site is example.com, then you can write the example.com/sitemap.xml. This will get you the sitemap of the site. You can click on the sitemap to view other related sitemaps of your website.

Use Famous WordPress SEO Plugins to See Sitemap

You can also use the SEO plugins to find out the sitemap. Most widely used SEO plugins are Yoast SEO, and Rank Math. They can automate the process of finding the sitemap.  If you use Yoast SEO, then navigate to the ‘SEO’ > ‘General’ in your WordPress dashboard, then choose 'Features'. Make sure the XML sitemaps feature is enabled. You can even click the question mark icon for a direct link.

While on the Rank Math, open the ‘Rank Math’ > ‘Sitemap Settings’. This is also a part of search engine optimization facts.

Exploring the robots.txt File

You can also access the robots.txt file to find out the sitemap file. This file also stays at the root of your site. You can access by writing the domain/robots.txt

The robots.txt file tells search engines which parts of your site they're allowed to crawl.

Manually Checking the Source Code of the Website

But what if you have tried the above-mentioned methods but can’t find your sitemap? It means this is the time to move into the source code of the website. Don’t fret, it is also an easy approach to find the sitemap of a WordPress website.

You just need to open the site’s homepage. After that, press right click anywhere on the page. In the opened window, you need to select the View Page Source Option. It will open a new tab or window with the complete HTML code of the page.  Now, use the 'Find' function (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and search for 'sitemap.xml' or 'sitemap_index.xml'. If the sitemap is linked anywhere in the HTML, you'll find it this way. Knowing how to find the sitemap of a WordPress website manually can be very helpful in tricky situations.

Best Practices of Sitemap for Better SEO Results

After finding out the sitemap, you need to make sure it is working fine. Initially update it. You should update your sitemap whenever you add or remove something from your site.  It ensures search engines crawl the accurate information. After that, submit your sitemap to the search engines using the Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. It will help crawlers to find your website easily without any hindrances. Do not add the unnecessary pages into the sitemap, they just consume the crawl budget. Most of the beginners make this mistake because they don’t know how to start digital marketing.

If you are managing a large website, try to make different sitemaps for better hierarchy and crawling.  And finally, make sure your sitemap is error-free.

Conclusion

Finding out the sitemap is essential for SEO results. Therefore, using this guide, we have elaborated on the different methods for how to find the sitemap of a WordPress website. We have focused on the SEO plugins, robots.txt file, and also dived deep into the source code of the website. Now you can easily find the sitemap. Make sure your sitemap is fully functional and all the entries are correct so that the crawl can find it and improve your site’s performance on SERP’s.