Google News Sitemap XML for WordPress: Beginner’s Guide

If you’re running a WordPress site and want your latest articles to be picked up quickly by Google News, a dedicated news-sitemap.xml is a must-have. Unlike regular sitemaps, a News sitemap only contains articles published in the last 48 hours and includes special <news:…> metadata that Google requires .

Many free plugins either don’t support custom post types or add unnecessary overhead, and top SEO suites like Yoast or Rank Math lock this behind premium tiers.

This practical, no-plugin solution shows you how to generate a perfect news sitemap, including only posts from the last 2 days (including custom post types), auto-removing old URLs as they age out, and fully complying with Google’s requirements.

Let’s dive in!

What Is a News Sitemap and Why You Need It

A News Sitemap is a specialized XML file that lists only your recent news articles (published within the last 48 hours) with specific <news:…> tags. Google News crawls this file frequently to discover breaking stories. Without it, you rely on your standard sitemap and occasional crawls, which can delay indexing.

Benefits:

• Faster Discovery: Google News fetches it more often.
• Greater Visibility: Ensures your freshest articles surface in News search.
• Control: You decide exactly which post types and articles appear.

Key Google requirements:

• Include only news articles from the last 2 days
• Exclude “pages” and other non-news content
• Update automatically as new articles are published or old ones age out

Key Differences from a Standard Sitemap

Fastest, Easiest Solution: The Standalone PHP Sitemap

Many WordPress plugins claim to generate news sitemaps, but they often run into problems:

• 404 errors on /news-sitemap.xml
• Pages showing up in the sitemap
• Most of the top SEO plugins offer this feature in paid plan.
• Custom post types missing or broken formatting

This guide solves those issues 100%.

Prerequisites

• A self-hosted WordPress install
• Access to your site’s filesystem (FTP, SSH, or File Manager, or using Theme Editor)
• Basic comfort editing PHP files
• (If using a custom post type) Know its slug (e.g. blog, news, articles)

Step-by-Step: Custom News Sitemap at

Step 1: Copy the Code

Add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Theme File Editor.
3. On the right, click functions.php (often called “Theme Functions”).
4. Paste this code at the very end of the file.

// Register "news-google.xml" as a custom endpoint
add_filter('query_vars', function($vars) {
    $vars[] = 'news_google_sitemap';
    return $vars;
});

add_action('init', function() {
    add_rewrite_rule('^news-google\.xml$', 'index.php?news_google_sitemap=1', 'top');
});

// Output the XML when someone visits /news-google.xml
add_action('template_redirect', function() {
    if (get_query_var('news_google_sitemap')) {
        header('Content-Type: application/xml; charset=UTF-8');

        // Your news sitemap logic (last 2 days, all post types except pages)
        $post_types = get_post_types(['public' => true], 'names');
        unset($post_types['page']); // Exclude pages
        $post_types = array_unique(array_merge(['post'], $post_types));
        $now = current_time('timestamp');
        $two_days_ago = $now - 2 * DAY_IN_SECONDS;

        $args = [
            'post_type'      => $post_types,
            'post_status'    => 'publish',
            'posts_per_page' => 1000,
            'date_query'     => [[
                'after'     => date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $two_days_ago),
                'before'    => date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $now),
                'inclusive' => true,
            ]],
            'orderby'        => 'date',
            'order'          => 'DESC',
            'fields'         => 'ids'
        ];

        $posts = get_posts($args);
        $publication_name = get_bloginfo('name');
        $publication_lang = substr(get_bloginfo('language'), 0, 2);

        echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' . "\n";
        echo '<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" ';
        echo 'xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9">' . "\n";

        foreach ($posts as $post_id) {
            $post = get_post($post_id);
            echo "  <url>\n";
            echo '    <loc>' . esc_url(get_permalink($post)) . "</loc>\n";
            echo "    <news:news>\n";
            echo "      <news:publication>\n";
            echo '        <news:name>' . esc_html($publication_name) . "</news:name>\n";
            echo '        <news:language>' . esc_html($publication_lang) . "</news:language>\n";
            echo "      </news:publication>\n";
            echo '      <news:publication_date>' . esc_html(get_the_date('c', $post)) . "</news:publication_date>\n";
            echo '      <news:title>' . esc_html(get_the_title($post)) . "</news:title>\n";
            echo "    </news:news>\n";
            echo "  </url>\n";
        }
        echo "</urlset>\n";
        exit;
    }
});

Step 2: Flush Permalinks

After you save the file, you need to tell WordPress about the new URL:

1. Go to Settings → Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Scroll down and click Save Changes (you don’t need to actually change anything).
   • This step is very important!

Step 3: Test Your New News Sitemap

In your browser, go to:
https://yourdomain.com/news-google.xml
(replace yourdomain.com with your actual site)

• You should see an XML file that lists your news articles from the last 2 days.

Step 4: Submit to Google (if you want)

You can now submit this sitemap URL (https://yourdomain.com/news-google.xml) to Google News Publisher Center or Google Search Console.

FAQs

Pro Tips & Best Practices

• 48‑hour window: Stick to Google’s 2-day limit—older URLs won’t be indexed by News.
• 1,000 URL cap: If you publish >1,000 news posts in 48 hours, split sitemaps (e.g., date-based).
• Exact Publication Date: Use get_the_date('c') to output YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss+TZ.
• Language Codes: Use ISO 639-1 (e.g., en, es, zh-cn).
• Publication Name: Must match the name in your Google News Publisher Center.
• Avoid caching: Exclude /news-sitemap.xml from page or CDN caches—freshness is key.
• Submit in Search Console: Add /news-sitemap.xml under Sitemaps; Google News will auto-refresh.
• Monitor errors: In GSC under Sitemaps, check for parsing or crawl issues.
• Shard if needed: For very high-volume sites, consider multiple sitemaps by date or category.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

That’s it!

• No conflicts with Rank Math or any other sitemap plugin.
• No plugin needed.
• No PHP files in your root directory.

After following the instructions above, you’ll see your news-sitemap.xml file live, as mine is – see the screenshot below.

Happy publishing, and may your headlines reach more readers!

Reference:
– Build and submit a sitemap
– News sitemaps