AIO SEO: Sitemap Indexes Setting

If in doubt, leave this set to Enabled.

Next, let's decide how many URLs each sitemap should contain.

You can enable Sitemap Indexes to show you a setting called Links per Sitemap.

AIO SEO: Sitemap Links

Each sitemap page should contain no more than 1,000 URLs. If there are more pages than 1,000 URLs, you will have to divide the sitemap into pages with 1,000 URLs each.

This will ensure creating each sitemap doesn’t take much more time than necessary, and search engines don’t give up if they take quite long.

What Content Should You Include in the Sitemap?

Next, we'll decide what content to include in the sitemap. There are two options here: Post Types and Taxonomies.

If you wish to include all posts, then leave the Include All Post types and Include All Taxonomies boxes checked.

If these two boxes are unchecked, you'll be able to see a list of all of your content types and taxonomies. From there you can choose which one you want to include on your sitemap.

XML Sitemap settings allow you to choose between Taxonomies and Post Types.

Note: Search Appearance does not display content that has been set to NoIndex or is removed from search engines.

These settings are for author archives and date archives that WordPress creates after you have published content. Because they are of little use in search results, you may not include them in your sitemap. However, you can enable these settings if you want them to be included in your sitemap.

Conclusion

Search engines are able to index your content and display it in search results, even if it is not in your sitemap. However, you can include content in your sitemap to make it easier for search engines to add, update, and delete your content much faster than waiting for them.

More Resources:

Get Indexed Fast
Google Sandbox
Links Help Google Discover You Faster

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Natsea Premium
Thank you Israel for this info. I have a question for you. I submitted sitemaps in my GSC and also Bing webmaster. In Bing is still there and I dont have to resubmit it again. However in GSC after time, is showing me 0 urls in sitemaps and I have to submit it again. And it is repeating. Is it normal or something is wrong?
Thank you so much for your answer.
Nat
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Israel17 Premium
@Natsea
Oh, sorry for my late reply, Nat! Which of Rankmath, AIOSEO, and Yoast SEO are you currently using? Let me know and I will suggest a solution. Thanks!

Israel Olatunji
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Natsea Premium
@Israel17
Hello Israel. No problem. I'm using AIOSEO, but this will be replaced based on Kyle's blog. For now it is still there. Lets see.
Thank you
Nat
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JKulk1 Premium
Hi Israel. Thanks for this training on site maps. I'm currently having trouble verifying my latest site. I've forgotten how you do this. One training segments says to copy the html code from Google site Console into WordPress homepage, but In can't find where on my home page to place it. Jim
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Israel17 Premium
@JKulk1
Glad you read my Sitemap creation tutorial, Jim! Are you on AIO SEO? If yes, you aren't going to copy any HTML anymore. It's now made easier with AIO SEO. You won't ever need to copy any code. You just need to rework your AIO SEO Sitemap settings, and you're good to go.

Israel Olatunji
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BrightSales Premium
I appreciate this training friend. I just want to let you know that as for the URLs max it is not 1,000 for each Sitemap which you've stated on lesson 4 here. It is 50,000 URLs max for each Sitemap. After the 50,000 max, then you will have to break them up. Unless, you meant something else. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
All the best!
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Hey Bright, what warrants setting a limit of 1000 URLs per sitemap page is that search engines find it difficult to crawl when each sitemap page is set above this limit. And that's the essence of creating this tutorial. Thanks for reading!

Remain bright!

Israel
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BrightSales Premium
@Israel17
I have searched everywhere on Google friend, and I can't find where it says that the search engines find it difficult to crawl above 1000 URLs. Can you point to your source of info? I want to remain bright. Lol!. Thanks.
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Hey Bright, while it's a maximum of 50,000 URLs per sitemap page, it's only a suggestion by AIO SEO to split the sitemap into pages, with a max of 1000 URLs per page. While this is an AIO SEO's suggestion as shown in the image attached, you're, however, free to set yours to a max of 50,000 URLs per page. Did you get it?

AIO SEO further advises that you can leave this setting to a maximum of 50,000 URLs. You may only have to reduce the number if it's taking longer to view sitemap pages.

Once again, Bright, it's not a rule or a law to set each sitemap page to 1000 URLs. You may only have to do that for the ease of viewing sitemap pages.

I'm following AIO SEO's suggestion because I trust their SEO advice. 2,000,000+ people can't be wrong, I think.

Israel Olatunji
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BrightSales Premium
@Israel17
I was reading about sitemap limits on various sources and found out that the old data for Sitemap limit was 1000 URLs. Since then, it was changed to 50,000 URLs. I was simply asking why 1000 URLs and not 2000, 3000, 4000? But as I see, AIO SEO only suggested that. I guess I was focusing too much on your "should contain no more than 1000 URLs" part of the blog. But I get it now. Point taken friend. All the best!
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Israel17 Premium
@BrightSales
Oh, sorry I got you confused, Bright! Thanks for getting back!

Israel Olatunji
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RCanty Premium Plus
Very helpful information! I ran into Sitemap issues a few days ago and this info would have come in handy. Good to see it out there now.

Canty
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Israel17 Premium
@RCanty
Glad it came in handy, Canty! Much appreciated, my friend!

Israel Olatunji
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Aussiemuso Premium Plus
I always wondered about this Israel.
Thanks for clearing up some points for me.

Lily
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Israel17 Premium
@Aussiemuso
Most welcome, Lily! Glad you found it helpful! Creating a sitemap is crucial for SEO. Thanks again!

Israel Olatunji
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