Random Number In Sitemap: Is that Okay?

[Gsmithmike]

I am using SEO plugin in WordPress, however when it creates a sitemap it puts a number at the end of each sitemap. /sitemaps/post-sitemap1.xml for example.

Is this okay?

I have not seen something like this with any other plugin. Reached out to the support and i got this response:

We use this number to manage paginated sitemaps.
If you exceed 1000 posts for a sitemap, a second sitemap will be added for the post type concerned with a number 2

I usually create sitemap manually I feel that is the best way, unless there is a huge benefit of having 2 sitemaps one for pages and one for blogs?

 

[djbaxter]

Yes numbered sitemaps are fine and common.

I don't think there's any advantage to separating posts and pages though.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Sitemaps often link to other sitemaps. E.g. The Yoast plugin creates a "main" sitemap named "sitemap_index.xml" and if you look inside you'll see that it links to other maps, such as:

• post-sitemap.xml
• page-sitemap.xml
• etc.

I suspect you'll find that the numbered sitemaps are similarly linked to subsequent map files.

If you point Google Search Console to the "first" or "main" sitemap it should find all the others.