Language Sitemaps for TranslatePress

A separate XML sitemap for each language — so you don't have to search for your translated URLs in the main index.

If your WordPress site has multiple languages, that doesn't automatically mean you can test each language version separately. With TranslatePress and language directories such as /en/ or /fr/ Technically, the URLs are all on the same website. This is convenient for people. However, it often means there isn't a separate entry point for each language when it comes to sitemaps, robots.txt, and cache warm-up.

You'll notice this, at the very latest, when you try to answer a simple question: Which English URLs are in the sitemap? Which language versions does the robots.txt file promote? Which list of URLs gets a cache warm-up? Language Sitemaps for TranslatePress Instead, it adds its own XML sitemap indexes for each published TranslatePress language, without replacing the standard sitemap index from WordPress, Rank Math, or Yoast.

What the plugin does

• One sitemap index per language: for example sitemap_index_en.xml, sitemap_index_fr.xml or sitemap_index_de.xml.
• Language-specific child sitemaps: per post type and taxonomy, for example sitemap_en_post_1.xml or sitemap_en_product_1.xml.
• On your own or with an SEO plugin: If neither Rank Math nor Yoast is installed, the plugin uses the WordPress sitemaps. If either of these SEO plugins is active, the corresponding integration will adopt its sitemap entries and exclusions.
• Entries in robots.txt: The language indexes are added to the virtual WordPress robots.txt file. A static file or server rule can replace this output; you'll find links to check this in the dashboard.
• Optional NitroPack Warmup Index: nitro-warmup-sitemap.xml plus wp localized-sitemaps sync-nitro.
• WP-CLI Check: wp localized-sitemaps list-indexes shows the available sitemap endpoints.

View and Configure Sitemaps

The language sitemaps are displayed in the Isla Studio design. An additional, human-readable view features clickable links and works on smartphones as well, without relying on the browsers’ obsolete XSLT technology. For search engines, the XML URLs remain the authoritative source.

In the TranslatePress tab Language Sitemaps You'll see the recognized provider, the sitemap URLs, and notes about robots.txt. You can also enable strict language separation there: TranslatePress will then no longer add translated URLs to the supported standard Rank Math or Yoast sitemaps. The separate language indexes will remain available.

In production use

The plugin was developed for the rollout of one of my clients’ websites using TranslatePress, Rank Math, and NitroPack. There, for example, it generates an English sitemap index with language-specific child sitemaps. The robots.txt file points to the English language index; the Rank Math root index remains unchanged. Since then, I’ve used this plugin in all my multilingual projects that utilize TranslatePress and Rank Math.

Prerequisites

• WordPress 6.0 or later
• PHP 7.4 or later
• TranslatePress with Directory URLs
• Rank Math or Yoast are optional. Even without either of them, the plugin works with WordPress sitemaps.
• Use NitroPack only if you want to use the separate warm-up index. If necessary, or if there is demand, the extension could in principle be implemented for caching solutions with a sitemap-based warm-up option.

Downloads, Updates, and Open Source

The download is free. When you place a 0-euro order, you'll receive a license key; once you activate it in the plugin list, updates will be delivered through the standard WordPress update mechanism.

The source code is licensed under GPL 2.0 or later and is included in the installable plugin ZIP file. You can download the plugin and get updates from Isla Studio. The development repository is internal.

Conscious Boundaries

• No hreflang annotations in the XML sitemap. The plugin builds discovery paths, not alternate logic.
• No separate domain setup per language. The scope is TranslatePress directory URLs.
• The additional language sitemaps cover posts, pages, public content types, and taxonomies. Special author, news, or video sitemaps remain with the original provider.
• No ranking guarantees. A sitemap helps with discoverability and auditability; it does not guarantee indexing or better rankings.

Verification

Claim	Source
Name, Version, WP/PHP Requirements, GPL 2.0 or later	Plugin header and readme.txt
Language-specific indexes and child sitemaps, WordPress/Rank Math/Yoast integration, entries in robots.txt, NitroPack and WP-CLI features	readme.txt and Core class