Site graders not finding sitemap

OK, I think I’ve resolved submitting my sitemaps, but website graders still say there’s no sitemaps. Is that because the sitemaps are still be processed by Google and Bing? Or is there something I’m missing?

Hi Susan – I have the same problem. Google webmasters search console allows you to submit – no ftp needed. But website.grader.com says it’s not there! Can anyone help us please?
Thanks, C

Hi, Chris. Thanks for your note. A few different grader sites still say my sitemap isn’t on my site. I don’t get it! Can some kind soul out there give us some insight?
Susan

Hi Susan,
I have a solution. I have included the sitemap url in the 1st line of the robots.txt file:
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
website.grader can now find it. I used the Virtual Robots.txt plugin to make it easy.
I hope that works for you, C

Chris, you are AWESOME! I did exactly what you recommended and it worked like a charm! Now if I can just figure out how to get my pages to load more quickly. I’ve installed Autoptomize and Far Future Expiry, but that’s only helping a little. And I’m trying not to add plugins that will bump heads with those plugins. I tell ya, this whole project has been a major learning experience for me! Thanks so much for following up with me.
Susan