---
title: "Verifiable sitemaps on a hidden pre-launch site"
description: "You can keep your site hidden from search engines before launch and still have sitemaps you can verify. Hide the site with a single WordPress-level switch…"
url: "https://homerunner.io/docs/how-can-i-make-sitemaps-verifiable-before-launch-while-keeping-my-site-hidden-fr/"
updated: "2026-10-26"
category: Setup and plugins
---

# Verifiable sitemaps on a hidden pre-launch site

You can keep your site hidden from search engines before launch and still have sitemaps you can verify. Hide the site with a single WordPress-level switch instead of robots settings in Rank Math.

1. In Rank Math, go to **Titles & Meta → Global Meta** and set the global robots option to index (remove noindex and nofollow).
2. Clear any per-page noindex robots meta that was applied to individual pages during development.
3. Keep the site hidden with **Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines from indexing this site**. This setting keeps a site-wide noindex tag on every page until you turn it off.
4. Flush permalinks and clear the Rank Math sitemap cache plus any object cache.
5. Reload sitemap_index.xml and open each sub-sitemap.

**At go-live**, turn off **Discourage search engines from indexing this site**. That one setting is what should be turned off at launch.

Still stuck? [Contact the HomeRunner team](https://homerunner.io/contact/) with your site address and what you tried, and we take it from there.