Hello @slservice33,
Thanks for reaching out.
By default, each sitemap can contain a limit of 1,000 items. If there are more than 1,000 items for a given content type, then the sitemap is split into multiple sitemaps. However, you can increase or decrease the sitemap limit by following the steps here.
Hi, that sound right. I only have 23 posts actually listed under post-sitemap.xml but I have over 1000 posts excluded from the sitemap so that will be it and I will follow the link you kindly provided.
Will it cause any problems with search engines finding content having posts under both post-sitemap.xml & post-sitemap2.xml ?
When some items are excluded from the sitemap, that may lead to an XML sitemap being empty. This is expected and permissible behavior and there should be no problems with search engines finding your content.
No, having posts split across post-sitemap.xml and post-sitemap2.xml won’t cause any problems — that’s exactly how sitemap indexes are meant to work.The sitemap_index.xml file at your domain root lists every individual sitemap, and Google discovers and crawls all of them through that index. It doesn’t expect everything in a single file. Google itself allows up to 50,000 URLs per sitemap file, while Yoast uses a conservative default limit of 1,000 per sitemap, which is why yours split into two files. Both files are treated identically when you submit the index in Search Console.On the count: sitemap files only include posts that are indexable. Anything set to noindex, redirected, canonicalized to another URL, or excluded in the plugin settings is left out by design — so the first file having fewer posts than your total is normal, and actually what you want. A sitemap that lists URLs your meta robots say shouldn’t be indexed would be the real problem.So you can leave it exactly as it is.
Hi, thank you, I appreciate your comprehensive replies and will probably leave it as it is.
Stephen
