Google: Sitemap Files Don't Need To Be Indexed To Work

Jan 29, 2019 - 7:45 am 8 by

Google Sitemaps

This is a bit heartwarming - to see John Mueller back up Joost de Valk and Yoost when someone incorrectly claimed their was a bug with the Yoast SEO plugin causing major Google issues. John from Google came in and backed up Joost, confirming Joost and telling the plugin creator his plugin is not needed.

John explained that XML sitemaps do not need to be indexed to work. Noindexing a Sitemap file is irrelevant because they are not really web pages.

Here is Joost's post:

The plugin wrote "Our latest release fixes Yoast SEO which has been tied to site visibility being affected in Google rankings." But there was no specific issue that needed fixing here.

John confirmed it by saying:

The plugin creator then closed the plugin, as the plugin now says "This plugin was closed on January 28, 2019 and is no longer available for download."

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 21, 2025

Mar 21, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Engine Roundtable Vlog

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Updates, AI Search Leak, AI Overviews linking to Google, Assistant To Die, Bing News & More

Mar 21, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Updates

Google March 2025 Core Update Volatility Bursts Or Tools Confused?

Mar 21, 2025 - 7:55 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Now Lets You Quickly Hide All Recommendations

Mar 21, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Stop Over Focusing On Tiny SEO Metrics

Mar 21, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console API To Support 24-Hour Hourly View

Mar 21, 2025 - 7:31 am
Previous Story: Myth Busting: HTTPS Not Required For Google Indexing & Ranking