Sitemaps, Search Console and Analytics

1The three tools and what each one does

A search engine finds pages two ways: by following links, and by reading a sitemap. A sitemap is an XML file that lists every URL we want indexed. Rank Math builds it for us at /sitemap_index.xml and keeps it current as pages are added, so the only work is deciding what belongs in it.

Google Search Console is a free Google tool, separate from the website, where Google shows what it did with the site: which pages it indexed, which it skipped and why, and which searches produced impressions and clicks. It is the only place the search-and-click numbers exist. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the other Google tool, and it counts what visitors do once they arrive.

Rank Math's Analytics module connects to both and shows the Search Console numbers on a tab inside WordPress. On the free plan the data refreshes every 3 days. That is enough for the monthly review in module 10.

2The sitemap Google reads today

The current site runs Yoast, and its sitemap index points at five files. Here is what they contained on 2026-09-29.

Two of those rows matter for how the company looks in search. A thank-you page in the sitemap invites Google to index a page that only makes sense after a form is filled in. An author archive for the agency that built the site tells Google the site has a section about Tech Pro Marketing. Neither helps a Richmond business owner find managed IT support, and both are one toggle to fix.

3Sitemap Settings in Rank Math

Open Rank Math SEO > Sitemap Settings. The left column lists a General tab, one tab per post type and one per taxonomy. The figure shows the General tab and the three tabs you will change.

General tab

Post type and taxonomy tabs

Finding an ID

WordPress shows a post's ID in the address bar when you edit it. Open Pages > All Pages, hover the page name, and the link at the bottom of the browser ends in post=123. That number is the post ID. For a category or tag, open Posts > Categories, hover the name, and the link ends in tag_ID=45. That number is the term ID, whether it is a category or a tag.

Save the settings, then open https://www.hermeticnetworks.com/sitemap_index.xml in a browser. The author sitemap should be gone from the index, and the excluded pages should be absent from the page sitemap.

4Google Search Console

Search Console is a property you claim at search.google.com/search-console, signed in with the Google account that will own it. Use a company Google account, not a personal one, and not the agency's. If Tech Pro Marketing set one up during the build, ask for owner access to it rather than creating a second one, because the search history lives in the property.

Property type

Google offers two kinds of property and the choice decides what you can see.

Choose the Domain property. Google gives you a TXT record value. Add it at wherever the domain's DNS is managed, wait for it to propagate, and click Verify. DNS changes can take a while to show, so if Verify fails, wait and try again rather than adding the record twice.

Submitting the sitemap

In Search Console, open Sitemaps in the left menu. In the "Add a new sitemap" field, type sitemap_index.xml and press Submit. Google reads the index and every sitemap it points to. The status shows Success once it has been fetched. If the old Yoast sitemap URLs were submitted separately by the agency, they share the same file names, so nothing else needs removing.

The three reports to know

• Pages (under Indexing): how many pages are indexed and, for the rest, the reason. This is where a noindex page that is still in the sitemap shows up as "Excluded by noindex tag".
• URL Inspection: paste one URL and Google tells you whether it is indexed, when it was last crawled, and lets you request indexing for a new page.
• Performance: impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position, filterable by search query and by page. This is the report Rank Math copies into WordPress.

5Connecting Rank Math Analytics

Open Rank Math SEO > General Settings > Analytics. Click Connect Google Services and sign in with the same Google account that owns the Search Console property. Rank Math asks for permission to read Search Console and Analytics. Then set the rows below.

Save, then open Rank Math SEO > Analytics. The first fetch takes a few minutes. After that the free plan refreshes every 3 days, PRO daily. The Overview shows total impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position; the Site Analytics tab lists pages with their own numbers; Index Status lists what Google has and has not indexed.

6Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow

Bing is the second search engine worth ten minutes, because it also powers search inside Windows and in Microsoft Edge, which is what many of the office computers we support run. Bing Webmaster Tools at bing.com/webmasters has an Import option that copies the site and its sitemap straight from Google Search Console, which is the quickest route once section 4 is done. Otherwise verify with the meta tag, pasted into the Bing field on the same Webmaster Tools tab in Rank Math, and submit sitemap_index.xml under Sitemaps.

IndexNow is a protocol Bing and Yandex run that lets a site announce a changed URL the moment it is published, instead of waiting for the next crawl. Rank Math has it built in.

1. Open Rank Math SEO > Dashboard and turn on the Instant Indexing module. Rank Math generates and hosts the API key itself; there is nothing to copy.
2. Open Rank Math SEO > Instant Indexing > Settings and tick Posts and Pages under the post types to submit automatically.
3. Publish or update a page. Open the History tab: a 200 means the URL was accepted, a 202 means accepted and awaiting key validation, anything 400 to 429 is an error to read.

Rank Math does not submit a noindex URL, so the excluded pages from section 3 stay out. Google is not part of IndexNow, and Google's own Indexing API is limited to job postings and livestreams, so for Google the route is the sitemap and the URL Inspection request, nothing faster.

7Do this now

1. Look up the post IDs of thank-you, thank-you-for-schedule-an-appointment and opt-out-preferences, and the term ID of uncategorized. Write them in the page map from module 02 so they are not lost.
2. In Rank Math SEO > Sitemap Settings > General, paste the post IDs into Exclude Posts and the term ID into Exclude Terms. Turn on Images in Sitemaps, Include Featured Images and Ping Search Engines. Save.
3. On the Authors tab, turn Include in Sitemap off. On the Tags tab, match what module 05 decided. Save.
4. Open /sitemap_index.xml in a browser and confirm the author sitemap is gone and the excluded pages are missing from the page sitemap. This is the check that the settings took.
5. Create the Domain property in Google Search Console with the company Google account, add the TXT record at the DNS host, verify. If the agency already owns a property, get owner access to it instead.
6. In Search Console, submit sitemap_index.xml and wait for Success.
7. In Rank Math SEO > General Settings > Analytics, connect the Google account, pick the Search Console and GA4 properties, turn on Enable Index Status Tab and Exclude Logged-in users. Check the page source for an existing G- tag before touching Install Analytics Code. Save.
8. Open Bing Webmaster Tools, import from Google Search Console, and confirm the sitemap shows there.
9. Turn on the Instant Indexing module, tick Posts and Pages, and check the History tab after the next publish.

8Check yourself

1. A page is set to noindex in module 05 and is still listed in the sitemap. What happens, and where do you see it?

   Answer

   Google follows the noindex and ignores the sitemap entry, and the Pages report in Search Console lists the URL under "Excluded by noindex tag". Fix it by excluding the page from the sitemap so the two signals agree.

2. Why turn the Authors sitemap off on our site in particular?

   Answer

   The current author sitemap lists three archives: Jeff, the shared info mailbox and the agency Tech Pro Marketing. Each is a page of post listings that nobody searches for, and the agency one presents the site as having a section about another company. Module 05 disabled author archives; this setting removes them from the sitemap so nothing points Google at them.

3. You create a URL-prefix property for https://hermeticnetworks.com/ and the Performance report stays at zero. Why?

   Answer

   The site's canonical host is https://www.hermeticnetworks.com/. A URL-prefix property covers only the exact address entered, so the non-www one sees nothing. Use a Domain property, which covers both, or enter the www address.

4. Where does the Rank Math Analytics tab get its impressions and clicks, and how often does it refresh on the free plan?

   Answer

   From the Google Search Console property connected under General Settings > Analytics. The free plan refreshes every 3 days; PRO refreshes daily.

5. Should you turn on Install Analytics Code?

   Answer

   Only after checking that GA4 is not already loaded. The site runs Complianz for cookie consent, which can load the tag itself. View the page source and search for G-. Two tags means every visit is counted twice.

6. Does IndexNow get a new page into Google faster?

   Answer

   No. IndexNow reaches Bing, Yandex, Seznam and Naver. Google does not take part, and its Indexing API is limited to job postings and livestreams. For Google, the sitemap and a URL Inspection request are the routes.

9Glossary

Sitemap

An XML file listing the URLs we want indexed. Rank Math's lives at /sitemap_index.xml and points to one file per post type and taxonomy.

Sitemap index

The top file that lists the other sitemap files. This is the one URL you submit.

Google Search Console

Google's free reporting tool for a site owner: indexing, crawl problems, and impressions and clicks by search query.

Domain property

A Search Console property covering every host and protocol of a domain, verified by a DNS TXT record.

URL-prefix property

A Search Console property covering one exact address, verified by a meta tag, a file or Analytics.

Impression

One appearance of a page in a search result, whether or not anyone clicked.

Click-through rate (CTR)

Clicks divided by impressions.

Average position

Where the page sat in results, averaged across the impressions in the period.

Index status

Whether Google has a page in its index. Rank Math reads it from Google's URL Inspection API.

GA4

Google Analytics 4, which counts visitors and what they do on the site. Separate from Search Console.

Post ID and term ID

The numbers WordPress gives every page or post, and every category or tag. Shown in the edit link as post= and tag_ID=.

IndexNow

A protocol run by Bing and Yandex that lets a site announce changed URLs at once. Built into Rank Math's Instant Indexing module.

Ping

A notice to search engines that the sitemap has changed.

10Sources

• Rank Math, Configure Sitemaps: General tab options, per post type and taxonomy toggles, Exclude Posts and Exclude Terms, submitting the index.
• Rank Math, Analytics module: connecting Search Console and GA4, what the free dashboard shows, the 3-day refresh, Index Status.
• Rank Math, General Settings: the Analytics tab rows and the Webmaster Tools verification fields.
• Rank Math, Instant Indexing: IndexNow support, the auto-generated key, post type selection, History status codes.
• Google, Add a website property to Search Console: Domain and URL-prefix properties and verification methods.
• Google, Sitemaps report and Page indexing report: submitting a sitemap and reading indexing reasons.
• Site facts from a crawl of www.hermeticnetworks.com on 2026-09-29: sitemap files and counts, the Yoast generator line, the canonical www host, and the Complianz plugin.

Documentation read 2026-09-29. Rank Math changes often; where this page and the documentation disagree, the documentation is current.