🔍 Overview
When switching from Yoast SEO to Search Atlas, one common step is recreating your sitemap exclusion rules. In Yoast, you can toggle off specific post types and taxonomies — such as author pages, category pages, and tag pages — so they are excluded from the XML sitemap. Search Atlas gives you the same control through its sitemap settings inside the WordPress plugin. This article explains what to prepare and how to get the right settings configured.
⚙️ Before You Begin
Make sure the following prerequisites are in place before adjusting sitemap settings:
- The Search Atlas WordPress plugin is installed and activated on your site.
- You are logged in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- You have already deactivated Yoast SEO (or at minimum disabled the Yoast sitemap feature) to avoid duplicate sitemaps conflicting with each other.
- You have a note of which URL types were excluded in Yoast — check your old Yoast settings under Yoast SEO → Search Appearance → Content Types and Taxonomies before fully removing the plugin.
🛠️ How to Exclude URL Types From Your Sitemap in Search Atlas
To replicate your Yoast sitemap exclusion rules inside the Search Atlas plugin, follow these general steps:
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- In the left-hand menu, click Search Atlas to open the plugin settings.
- Navigate to the Sitemap section within the plugin.
- Within the sitemap settings, locate the controls for post types (e.g. author pages, custom post types) and disable or exclude each type you do not want included in your sitemap.
- Similarly, locate the controls for taxonomies (e.g. category pages, tag pages, custom taxonomies) and disable or exclude each one you want removed from the sitemap.
- Save your settings once all exclusions are configured.
- After saving, verify your sitemap by visiting yoursite.com/sitemap.xml and confirming that the excluded URL types no longer appear.
The exact names of controls and settings may vary depending on your plugin version. If you cannot locate the relevant options, reach out to our support team with your plugin version number and a description of which URL types you need to exclude.
📋 Common Yoast Exclusions and Their Search Atlas Equivalents
Use the table below as a quick reference when recreating your exclusions:
- Yoast: Author archives set to "noindex" → Search Atlas: Find the author pages or author archives option within the sitemap settings and disable it.
- Yoast: Categories excluded from sitemap → Search Atlas: Find the categories option under the taxonomy-related sitemap controls and disable it.
- Yoast: Tags excluded from sitemap → Search Atlas: Find the tags option under the taxonomy-related sitemap controls and disable it.
- Yoast: Custom post type excluded → Search Atlas: Find the corresponding custom post type within the sitemap settings and disable it.
If you are unsure which settings correspond to your specific Yoast exclusions, have the following ready when contacting support: your plugin version, the URL types you need to exclude, and a screenshot or description of what you currently see in the Search Atlas sitemap settings.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.