Title: attachment-sitemap.xml ? Last modified: March 29, 2019 --- # attachment-sitemap.xml ? * Resolved [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/) * (@soupaddict) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/) * On a whim, I inspected my sitemap index file, and, to my surprise, saw that it contains two attachment-sitemap files. After the debacle of the 7.0 version, I thought that the attachment sitemaps were no longer submitted? I have the most recent version of the plugin installed, and until today, was using the extra plugin that supposedly was meant to accelerate the purging of attachment URLs, which it never did. I’ve been struggling with this issue ever since that update. And now I see why — Yoast is still including attachments in the sitemap. So, the whole setup is telling Google to both index and deindex the attachment URLs. How do I resolve this, short of chucking the Yoast plugin? Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) * [Jerlyn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jerparx/) * (@jerparx) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/#post-11371502) * Hi [@soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/) * When you enabled the Search Index Purge Plugin, it’s expected to create a static XML sitemap, containing all the attachment URLs on a given site. It will then make sure that every attachment URL will return a 410 status code. This process makes sure that Google spiders all the attachment URLs again and set them to 410 status which will be dropped eventually from search results. * You can read more about it here: [https://yoast.com/media-attachment-urls/](https://yoast.com/media-attachment-urls/) * Thread Starter [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/) * (@soupaddict) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/#post-11371743) * You do realize, though, that it’s now a vicious circle: the sitemap causes Google to reindex the attachment files, and the plugin attempts to 410’s them … which it doesn’t. * It’s been almost a year, and all of my attachment files (11 years’ worth) are still appearing in GSC. * All of those attachment files now show up as crawl errors in GSC. All of them. You can watch this vicious circle right in my GSC: Google indexes the first attachment sitemap. Crawl errors go up by exactly 1,000 pages. A few days later, they get 410’d (apparently), and the crawl errors go back down. A few days later, Google indexes the attachment sitemap again. The crawl errors go right back up. (This happens with the 2nd attachment sitemap, too, in a separate cycle). * Believe me, no one wishes more than I that I had just sat tight and changed the media redirect setting, and let things play out. This extra plugin has been a nightmare. * So, if I deactive the extra plugin, will the redirect settings kick in and get rid of this problem once and for all? AND will the attachment sitemaps go away? If I have to manually intervene in these files, that’s fine, but tell me what do to end this nightmare with your plugin, short of getting rid of Yoast completely. - This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/). - This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/). * [Pcosta88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pcosta88/) * (@pcosta88) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/#post-11383315) * Hi, * You identified several issues. We have responded to them below. * **1. You do realize, though, that it’s now a vicious circle: the sitemap causes Google to reindex the attachment files, and the plugin attempts to 410’s them… which it doesn’t.** Odd. We would expect the purge plugin to output a 410 on your attachment pages. Can you provide an example URL? We’d be happy to confirm the purge plugin is working as expected. * **2. It’s been almost a year, and all of my attachment files (11 years’ worth) are still appearing in GSC.** If the purge plugin is working we would expect those attachment pages to drop off in Google. * **3. All of those attachment files now show up as crawl errors in GSC. All of them. You can watch this vicious circle right in my GSC: Google indexes the first attachment sitemap. Crawl errors go up by exactly 1,000 pages. ** That’s expected behavior. The purge plugin is expected to output a 410 on those pages. Google then shows crawl errors for them. Google is letting you know that these pages have errors. You can then review them and make a judgement call on what to do. * In this instance, do nothing. It is expected. * Please also know that having 410 errors is not expected to affect the SEO of your site. It is only expected to make Google drop off those attachment pages. Indeed, this purge plugin method of showing 410 was approved by Google. This guide explains more: [https://yoast.com/media-attachment-urls/](https://yoast.com/media-attachment-urls/) * **4. A few days later, they get 410’d (apparently), and the crawl errors go back down. A few days later, Google indexes the attachment sitemap again. The crawl errors go right back up. (This happens with the 2nd attachment sitemap, too, in a separate cycle).** This is expected. We understand the concern with suddenly seeing lots of crawl errors. So long as the crawl errors are related to those attachment pages you can ignore them. * **5. Believe me, no one wishes more than I that I had just sat tight and changed the media redirect setting, and let things play out. This extra plugin has been a nightmare.** We apologize for the frustration but the 410 is the fastest and most efficient way to remove those attachment pages. It should take about 6 months between the time you put the purge plugin on and when those pages all drop off. Can you confirm it has been at least 6 months? * **6. So, if I deactive the extra plugin, will the redirect settings kick in and get rid of this problem once and for all? AND will the attachment sitemaps go away? ** Yes, you can remove the purge plugin and make that redirect. This will output a 301 redirect on the attachment pages (instead of a 410). You can also expect Google to eventually drop those attachment pages off of the SERPs but it will take a longer time. * Thread Starter [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/) * (@soupaddict) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/#post-11385234) * Again, you don’t understand what your own plugin is even doing. YOUR PLUGIN is generating sitemaps for those attachment files. The sitemap is not where files are 410’d, so, your reply doesn’t even make any sense. There’s no reason to generate a sitemap for the attachment files. All you’re doing is creating a never-ending loop of indexing and 410s. * I had installed this plugin when it first came out, so, it’s been running for, what, 10 months? 12 months? There’s no hope of Google actually 410’ing those URLs as long as they keep being resurrected by the attachment file sitemaps. You don’t 410 URLs that are in the sitemap. That’s why Google is throwing errors– it’s thinking a mistake is being made. * I deactivated the plugin last week, and the two attachment file sitemaps are no longer a part of the sitemap collection. Maybe now everything will actually go away, given time. Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) The topic ‘attachment-sitemap.xml ?’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordpress-seo/assets/icon-256x256.gif?rev=3419908) * [Yoast SEO - Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/reviews/) * 4 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [soupaddict](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soupaddict/) * Last activity: [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/attachment-sitemap-xml/#post-11385234) * Status: resolved