Product guide
Sitemaps and Robots.txt in WP SEO Next
Sitemaps and robots.txt help crawlers discover the right URLs and avoid low-value or private paths.
Sitemap index
Use the sitemap index as the main crawl entry point.
- /sitemap_index.xml
- /sitemap.xml alias
- Updated public URLs
Robots.txt
Keep robots rules short, readable, and aligned with live sitemap URLs.
- Admin paths blocked
- AJAX allowed
- Valid sitemap directive
Launch check
Verify every sitemap URL returns 200 and does not point to unfilled demo pages.
- No broken sitemap links
- No old demo URLs
- No private uploads
How it works
- Open robots.txt.
- Open the sitemap index.
- Check key sitemap files.
- Review exposed URLs.
- Fix or noindex anything that should not launch.
Good to know
- A robots sitemap directive should point to a working URL.
- Sitemap exposure is not the same as ranking, but it affects discovery.
Next step
Use the sitemap and robots docs as the final crawlability check.
