How do I exclude a content type from Yoast sitemaps?

Definition: Excluding a content type from Yoast sitemaps means removing a group of WordPress content, such as posts or pages, from its XML sitemap listings. As of 17 October 2026, Yoast connects this exclusion to the content type's setting for appearing in search results.

Key facts

• Yoast's XML sitemap documentation says that post types marked noindex are excluded from the sitemap.
• Yoast's sitemap customization guide places posts, pages and custom post types under Content types in its settings.
• Yoast's meta robots specification assigns noindex, follow to content configured to stay out of search results. A meta robots tag carries these instructions in a page's HTML head.

Which setting excludes the whole content type?

Yoast's customization instructions connect the search visibility switch to sitemap inclusion. In the WordPress dashboard, the route is Yoast SEO > Settings > Content types, followed by the relevant content type. The Show [type] in search results? toggle is set to Off, then Save changes saves the choice.

Categories and tags have their own controls under Categories & tags in the same guide.

What happens to search visibility?

The setting also changes the page's indexing instructions. Yoast's meta robots specification describes pages, posts and archive types excluded through Search Appearance settings as returning noindex and follow. Here, noindex is the instruction associated with exclusion from search results.

Yoast's sitemap help page connects that state to omission from the sitemap. It also says that the sitemap index and individual sitemaps update automatically when content is added or removed.

How is the exclusion checked?

An XML sitemap index lists the individual sitemap files. Yoast's sitemap specification gives this path for the index, relative to the site's domain:

/sitemap_index.xml

After saving the setting, checking the index for the affected content type's sitemap tests the exclusion. The same specification describes a separate sitemap for each public content type with valid members.

Yoast's viewing instructions also provide a dashboard route: Settings > Site features, then View the XML sitemap under the XML sitemaps feature.

Related terms

• XML sitemap
• noindex
• How do I enable XML sitemaps in Yoast SEO?
• How do I set noindex for one page in Yoast SEO?

FAQ

How do you exclude just one page?

Yoast's individual exclusion guide directs you to edit the page, open Advanced in the Yoast SEO sidebar, and choose No for the control allowing search engines to show it in results. Publish or update the page to save the change.

Why is your custom content type absent from the settings?

Yoast's customization guide says that some content types are registered without public visibility and therefore lack an exclusion control. It documents making the type public or using a developer filter as alternatives.

Sources

1. Yoast, "XML sitemaps in the Yoast SEO plugin", undated
2. Yoast, "How to customize the sitemap index", undated
3. Yoast, "Yoast SEO Meta robots: Functional specification", undated
4. Yoast, "Yoast SEO XML Sitemaps: Functional specification", undated
5. Yoast, "How to exclude content from the sitemap", undated

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