WordPress indexing checks start in Settings → Reading: confirm that “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” matches your intended visibility. Then review whether the site is ready to be discovered, check robots.txt, and use a sitemap or individual URL submission in Google Search Console where appropriate. These checks help prepare and submit pages; submission alone does not confirm that a page is indexed.
Summary
- In WordPress, find the sitewide visibility checkbox under Settings → Reading. If it is on, the setting is intended to discourage search engines from accessing the site.
- Before encouraging discovery, decide whether the site is ready to launch. Publication alone does not mean Google can easily analyze it; review the content and page details first.
- A sitemap and URL Inspection serve different submission purposes in Google Search Console: submit a sitemap for the site, or submit an individual URL for a particular page.
Find the Search Engine Visibility setting in WordPress
The sitewide search engine visibility control is under Settings → Reading in wp-admin. Locate the checkbox labeled “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” and check whether it is on or off.
The location and checkbox state are the key facts to capture during this check. The mySites.guru explanation of the WordPress visibility setting describes a check that fails when the box is switched on. That gives you a straightforward diagnostic: find the control, note its state, and compare it with the site’s purpose.
Avoid changing the setting just because you found it. A site that is still being prepared may not be intended for search discovery yet. The next step is to decide what visibility the site should have, then judge whether the current checkbox state fits.
Check whether the Reading visibility setting matches your intent
The Reading setting should match whether you want search engines to be discouraged from accessing the site. The checkbox is not a general publishing control: use the site’s readiness and intended visibility to decide whether its current state makes sense.
| Checkbox state | Meaning for this check |
|---|---|
| On | The setting is configured to discourage search engines from indexing the site. |
| Off | The setting is not configured to discourage search engines through this checkbox. |
The mySites.guru description says the discouraged setting keeps crawlers away and identifies an enabled checkbox as a failed visibility check. Read the label carefully: this is a sitewide setting, so it is not a control for one particular post or page.
An unchecked box only tells you that this particular discouragement setting is off. It does not, by itself, establish that every page is ready for search or that any page has been indexed. Treat it as one site-level check, then consider launch readiness and the other checks below.
How to Try an Indexing Service with a Small Batch→Separate publishing a WordPress site from being ready for indexing
A published WordPress site is not automatically ready for Google to analyze. Before encouraging discovery, decide whether the site is ready to launch and whether its content and page details are prepared.
The SEOPress WordPress indexing guide advises keeping a site unpublished if it is not ready to launch. Its preparation guidance includes checking that the content matches your intent, keywords are included, and pages have metadata and optimized URLs. Those are launch-readiness considerations, separate from the Reading visibility checkbox.
This sequence prevents a common mix-up: making a site available to visitors and preparing it for search analysis are related, but they are not the same check. Publication alone does not show that the site is easy for Google to analyze, and turning off the Reading checkbox does not complete the launch-readiness review.
Include robots.txt in the WordPress indexing checks
Include robots.txt in the crawl-access review because it helps search engines determine which URLs they can or cannot crawl. Check it alongside the Reading visibility setting rather than treating either check as the whole review.
The SEOPress guide describes robots.txt as a file that helps search engines deduce which URLs they can or cannot crawl. It also says SEOPress PRO lets users enable a virtual robots.txt. That feature is relevant if the site uses SEOPress PRO and you are considering its virtual-file option.
Why include robots.txt?
When does SEOPress PRO’s virtual robots.txt matter?
For the reader’s check, the practical outcome is to account for robots.txt in the crawl-access review and identify whether the virtual-file feature is relevant to the site’s setup. Do not assume that checking the Reading setting answers the robots.txt question: they are separate items in the review.
Verify the sitemap contribution from WordPress and SEOPress
WordPress automatically creates an XML sitemap, according to the SEOPress guide. Sitemap generation and sitemap submission are separate actions: having a sitemap available is not the same as submitting it through Google Search Console.
| Sitemap activity | What it means in this check |
|---|---|
| WordPress sitemap generation | WordPress automatically creates an XML sitemap. The SEOPress guide notes that the WordPress sitemap has limitations. |
| SEOPress Free sitemap ping | SEOPress Free has a feature that can ping Google with the XML sitemap. |
| Google Search Console submission | Submit the sitemap through the Sitemaps report after verifying ownership of the property. |
The SEOPress guide describes the ping feature as a way to notify Google of the XML sitemap. That is distinct from using the Sitemaps report in Search Console. Identify which action you are considering instead of treating “the sitemap is available” and “the sitemap was submitted” as interchangeable.
For your review, identify the WordPress sitemap and whether the site uses the SEOPress Free ping feature. If you plan to submit the sitemap through Search Console, use the Sitemaps report after ownership is verified.
Submit the sitemap through Google Search Console
After the site is ready for discovery and you have verified ownership of its Search Console property, submit the sitemap through the Sitemaps report. According to the SEOPress guide, sitemap submission puts the sitemap in a queue for Google to crawl.
Keep the site-readiness decision in view. If the site is not ready to launch, the SEOPress guide advises keeping it unpublished while you prepare it; sitemap submission is a discovery step, not a replacement for that preparation.
A submission places the sitemap in a crawl queue. That describes the submission process, not a confirmed indexing result for every page in the sitemap. Keep the record of the action precise: you submitted the sitemap through the report, rather than concluding from submission alone that all listed pages are indexed.
Use URL Inspection to submit an individual page
Use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool when you want to submit one particular URL, such as a new page or one you suspect has not been picked up. The SEOPress guide describes this as individual URL submission through Search Console.
This is a page-level action, unlike submitting a sitemap through the Sitemaps report. Choose it when you have a specific page in mind; use sitemap submission when you are submitting the site’s XML sitemap.
These checks give you a practical order: confirm the Reading visibility setting, decide whether the site is ready to launch, include robots.txt in the crawl-access review, identify the sitemap and any SEOPress sitemap-ping use, then submit a sitemap or a specific URL through Search Console as appropriate.
Content update: November 10, 2026.