> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.daftplug.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sitemaps

> XML sitemaps, robots.txt, and what goes in them.

**Rankify > Settings > Sitemaps**

## XML sitemaps

<ParamField path="XML Sitemap" type="toggle" default="on">
  Generates a paginated sitemap index at `/sitemap.xml`, split per post type and taxonomy, that stays current automatically.

  Replaces the core WordPress sitemap when enabled, so you do not end up with two.
</ParamField>

<Warning>
  Generating a sitemap tells nobody it exists. Submit `https://example.com/sitemap.xml` in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Until you do, this setting is doing much less than you think.
</Warning>

<ParamField path="Noindexed Content" type="select" default="Leave it out">
  Whether pages marked noindex appear in the sitemap.

  Leave it out. Listing a page you have told search engines not to index sends a contradictory signal, and it is one of the most common mistakes in SEO configuration.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="News Sitemap" type="toggle" default="off">
  Pro. Publishes a Google News sitemap for articles from the last 48 hours.

  Only useful for sites approved in Google News. Enabling it without approval does nothing.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="Video Sitemap" type="toggle" default="off">
  Pro. Detects videos in your content and publishes a video sitemap with duration, thumbnail, and description, so they can appear in video results.
</ParamField>

## What goes in the sitemap

Each selected type gets its own sitemap file, listed in the index at `/sitemap.xml`.

<ParamField path="Post Types" type="checkboxes" default="posts and pages">
  Which post types are listed.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="Taxonomies" type="checkboxes" default="categories">
  Which taxonomy archives are listed.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="Include Images" type="toggle" default="on">
  Lists the featured image and any images in the content, so they can appear in image search.
</ParamField>

<Note>
  Types set to noindex or disabled on the [Content Types tab](/rankify/settings/content-types) are left out automatically. You never have to keep two lists in agreement.
</Note>

<Tip>
  A sitemap is a list of pages you want indexed, not an inventory of every URL. Leaving out tag archives and date archives makes it a stronger signal, not a weaker one.
</Tip>

## Crawling

<ParamField path="robots.txt Editor" type="toggle" default="on">
  Serves a robots.txt generated by Rankify, including a link to your sitemap and any AI crawler rules.

  Nothing is written to disk. Deactivate Rankify and the rules stop applying, leaving nothing behind.
</ParamField>

<Warning>
  A physical `robots.txt` file on disk always wins. If your rules are not appearing, check whether one exists in your site root, because WordPress cannot override it.
</Warning>

### Additional rules

<ParamField path="Additional Rules" type="textarea">
  Extra directives appended to the served robots.txt, one per line.

  ```text theme={null}
  User-agent: SomeBot
  Disallow: /private/
  ```

  Lines that are not valid robots.txt directives are dropped, so a stray paste cannot corrupt the file.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="Served Output" type="preview">
  Exactly what your robots.txt returns right now, including the sitemap reference and AI crawler rules. Check this after any change.
</ParamField>

<Warning>
  robots.txt is the fastest way to remove a site from search. A stray `Disallow: /` takes everything out. Read the served output after every edit, and if you are not certain what a rule does, do not add it.
</Warning>

<Note>
  robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing. A page blocked here can still appear in results if other sites link to it, but with no description, because the crawler was never allowed to read it. To keep a page out of results, use noindex on the [Content Types tab](/rankify/settings/content-types) and leave it crawlable.
</Note>

## Checking your work

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the sitemap">
    Visit `https://example.com/sitemap.xml`. You should see an index linking to one file per type.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open robots.txt">
    Visit `https://example.com/robots.txt`. It should reference your sitemap.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit both">
    Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Search Console then reports what it actually indexed, which is the number that matters rather than what you listed.
  </Step>
</Steps>