All Features: WordPress SEO Plugin with AI Tools

WordPress XML Sitemap Plugin: Index and Video Sitemaps

Rank Forge serves an XML sitemap for your WordPress site: an index at /sitemap_index.xml and one sub-sitemap for each post type whose “Show in search results” box is checked (not attachments). The entry of a post lists its featured image in an <image:image> tag. The sitemaps are cached for one hour and cleared when you save or delete a post.

The sitemap architecture

Index sitemap

The main entry point at /sitemap_index.xml. Lists all sub-sitemaps:

<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/post-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-04-11</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/page-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-04-10</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/product-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-04-11</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Submit this one URL to Google Search Console and Google discovers everything else automatically.

Post-type sub-sitemaps

Rank Forge generates a dedicated sub-sitemap for each registered post type — posts, pages, products, custom post types. A sub-sitemap lists 1,000 posts by default, beginning with the posts that changed most recently. You can set the number between 100 and 50,000.

Featured image in the sitemap

The entry of a post lists its featured image:

<url>
  <loc>https://example.com/blog/wordpress-seo-guide/</loc>
  <image:image>
    <image:loc>https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/seo-analysis.jpg</image:loc>
  </image:image>
</url>

The entry holds the featured image of a post, with its address in <image:loc>. The other images in the text of a post are not added, and the entry has no image title or caption.

`lastmod` precision

Rank Forge uses real post modification dates — not sitemap generation dates — for the <lastmod> element. This matters because Google uses lastmod to decide which pages to re-crawl first.

Post published: lastmod = publish date
Post edited: lastmod = last edit date
Featured image replaced: lastmod updates
Post category changed: lastmod updates
Comment added: lastmod does not change

Accurate lastmod means Google’s crawl budget focuses on pages that actually changed.

Noindex page exclusion

Pages marked as noindex in Rank Forge (via the per-post checkbox, or because the “Show in search results” box of their post type is unchecked) are automatically excluded from the sitemap. Google doesn’t waste crawl budget on pages you don’t want indexed.

Transient cache

Building an XML sitemap on every request would be expensive on large sites. Rank Forge keeps each sitemap (the index, one for each post type, and the video sitemap) as a transient for one hour. It clears all of them when:

A post is saved: this covers a new post that is published, a post that is updated and a change of its noindex checkbox
A post is deleted
You save the Settings screen: this covers the “Show in search results” box of a post type and the number of URLs per sub-sitemap

The next request after that builds the sitemap again. Until then, Rank Forge sends the copy it kept. A change that is made another way, for example by code that writes to the database, shows in the sitemap once the hour is over.

Submitting your sitemap

Rank Forge does not ping search engines when the sitemap changes (Google retired its sitemap ping). Submit sitemap_index.xml once in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and they re-read it on their own schedule. With the Pro add-on and a connected Google account, the Submit to Google Index button in the Search Engine Submission section of a post asks Google to crawl one URL sooner.

Customization

Per-post-type inclusion/exclusion

In Rank Forge > Settings, tab Search Appearance, the Title Templates card has a block for each public post type. Its Show in search results toggle decides whether that post type is in the sitemap:

Toggle on: the post type is in the sitemap
Toggle off: the post type is left out of the sitemap and gets noindex
Attachments are never in the sitemap

Max URLs per sub-sitemap

Default is 1,000 URLs per sub-sitemap (well under Google’s 50,000 limit). Adjustable in settings.

Video sitemap

For sites with video content, Rank Forge’s Video SEO feature generates a separate video sitemap at /video-sitemap.xml with <video:video> annotations including duration, thumbnail, upload date, and category.

Verification in Google Search Console

After activating Rank Forge, submit /sitemap_index.xml to Google Search Console → Sitemaps. Google will discover all sub-sitemaps and start crawling them. The Search Console “Indexing” report shows how many URLs were submitted and how many are indexed.

Ready to set up a proper XML sitemap?

See pricing →

The XML Sitemap feature is included in every version of Rank Forge, including the free one — and so is the video sitemap.