double xml file (sitemap & sitemap-index) and Google News

Hi, do you see these two files in your hosting file browser or via FTP? If so, these were not generated by the XML Sitemap & Google News plugin. You may want to delete them…

To see the sitemaps generated by the XML Sitemap & Google News plugin, go to Settings > Reading and click the two “View” links in the XML Sitemaps section.

If you can share these links here, I can take a look and tell you if they are correctly generated.

Hello,

I’ll explain the situation better with some screenshots, but in short, the tool only handles 2 XML files when I actually have 3. I discovered the third one on Google Console, and it’s active; that’s how I found out about it. As I already mentioned, this third file is identical to the one set up in the plugin, and they update together.

Enable XML sitemaps Enable XML sitemaps XML Sitemap Index – Settings | View –> sitemap.xml Google News Sitemap – Settings | View –> sitemap-news.xml

The third one is sitemap_index.xml, which is not configured on WordPress but still updates.

Why is that?

Ah, now I understand what you mean. There is the official index on /sitemap.xml but a copy on /sitemap_index.xml. This is to allow smooth transition between some SEO plugin sitemap index file locations and this plugin.

The double sitemap is not a problem. You can simply remove the /sitemap_index.xml lcoation from your Google Search Console.

thanks so much for the information, one last question, but do I have to do something to delete it from wp?

no, the next plugin update will take care of that ??

Hello,

Same problem here but with a repetition of each sitemap (/sitemap_index.xml and /sitemap.xml).

I have indicated the good one (sitemap.xml?with the plugin XML Sitemap & Google News) on my Robots.txt, Search Console and WordPress settings. I don’t how to fix this issue, how to delate the second sitemap (/sitemap_index.xml). The bots don’t understand how to index the article. Any idea ?
Thanks for your time and your help ??

If the sitemap is still in the Sitemap list in your Google Search Console, you can simply delete it there. But the old sitemap will remain visible in the discovery sources lists for a long time. You do not need to worry about that. There really is no problem with having double sitemaps, as long as their content is correct.

The next release will approach the issue differently with a redirect instead of a copy. But the result will be the same.

If you really remain worried about the double sitemap, you could use a plugin like Redirection to create a forced 301 redirection from the old to the new location.

Hi, Thank you so much for your message and help.

I have only one sitemap saved on my Search Console (sitemap.xml), and I have already a 301 /sitemap_index.xml to /sitemap.xml. So, if i understand well, all I have to do is waiting…

Yes ??