Sitemaps are files that list each post and page that should be indexed by search engines like Google or Bing. Jetpack allows you to generate such files thanks to the Sitemaps module.
Once you activate the module, Jetpack will generate two different sitemaps for you: a sitemap listing all your public posts and pages, and a News sitemap built specifically for Google News.
Sitemap for Search Engines
Jetpack’s XML sitemap can be accessed at yoursitename.com/sitemap.xml.
No need to do anything extra on your end, just make sure that the Sitemaps module is enabled! The sitemap file generated by Jetpack is available to every search engine that supports the protocol, including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask.com, and others. If you would like to learn more about the protocol, visit sitemaps.org.
Note: to protect site performance, only your last 1,000 posts are included in the Sitemap.
News Sitemap
News Sitemaps are very similar to standard XML sitemaps for search engines, but they are specific to Google News. Publishers must be pre-approved for Google News before Google will index a news sitemap. News sitemaps include only posts published in the last 48 hours.
Once you activate the Sitemaps module, you’ll be able to access your news sitemap at yoursitename.com/news-sitemap.xml – again, you don’t need to do anything extra. Approved publishers must log in to Google Search Console and add their news sitemap location as another sitemap.
If you’d like to apply to get your posts listed in Google News, you can follow the instructions here.
How to add more Post Types to the sitemap
The default Sitemap only includes Posts, Pages, and only the Custom Post Types included in Jetpack. If you’d like to add a new Custom Post Type to the default Sitemap, you can use the jetpack_sitemap_post_types filter to specify your own array of post types to include.
The News sitemap, on the other hand, only lists Posts by default. To add another post type to the News Sitemap, use the jetpack_sitemap_news_sitemap_post_types filter.
Use Jetpack’s Sitemap module alongside other Sitemap plugins
There are a number of plugins in the plugin repository that allow you to create sitemaps for your WordPress site. If you already use such a plugin, you can either remove that plugin and use Jetpack’s Sitemap module instead, or leave Jetpack’s Sitemap disabled. We won’t activate our Sitemap module if we detect you’re already using one of the more popular sitemap plugins on your site.
