WordPress Hide Page from Sitemap

WordPress Hide Page from Sitemap is something almost every site owner ends up needing at some point, even if they don’t realize it right away.

If you’ve been running a WordPress site for more than a few weeks, you probably already have pages that shouldn’t be visible to everyone. Not every page belongs in Google’s index, and not every page should be discoverable through your sitemap. Some pages are unfinished. Some are for clients only. Some exist purely for internal use, testing, or thank-you screens after a form submission.

The problem is that WordPress doesn’t clearly explain when or how to hide these pages properly. And depending on what you’re trying to achieve, there are several different ways to do it — some better than others.

In this guide, we’ll go through practical methods to hide WordPress pages from your sitemap, from search engines, or from visitors altogether. No fluff, no unnecessary tools — just real options you can actually use, depending on your situation.

Table of Contents

1. Set the Page to Private or Password-Protected

This is the simplest option, and honestly, the one most people should start with. WordPress already gives you visibility settings right inside the page editor.

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You don’t need a plugin. You don’t need code. It’s just… there.

Private pages

When a page is set to Private, only admins and editors can see it. Everyone else gets nothing — even if they somehow guess the URL.

This works well for things like:

Internal notes
Team-only content
Pages you’re still building
Stuff that should never be public

To make a page private:

Log in to your dashboard
Go to Pages → All Pages
Click Edit on the page
Look at the right-hand sidebar for Visibility
Select Private
Hit Update

You can also do this with Quick Edit:

Go to Pages → All Pages
Click Quick Edit under the page
Check the Private box
Click Update

That’s it. The page disappears from the front end.

Password-protected pages

Password-protected pages are a bit different. Instead of blocking everyone, WordPress shows a password field. Anyone with the password can view the page.

This is useful when:

You’re sharing something with a client
You want to send a private link
You don’t want to force people to log in

To password-protect a page:

Open the page editor
Under Status & Visibility, choose Password Protected
Enter a password
Click Update

Or using Quick Edit:

Click Quick Edit
Enter a password in the Password field
Click Update

Not fancy, but it works.

Also Raed: How to Write Meta Descriptions That Drive Traffic – 2026

2. Save the Page as a Draft or Pending Review

Sometimes you don’t actually need to “hide” a page. You just need to not publish it yet.

Draft pages aren’t visible to visitors at all. Pending Review pages work the same way, but they’re useful if someone else needs to approve the content.

This is great for:

Half-finished pages
Content still being edited
Pages you’re not ready to show

To do this:

Open the page
Under Status & Visibility, select Draft or Pending Review
Click Update

Or via Quick Edit:

Go to Pages → All Pages
Click Quick Edit
Change the Status
Click Update

Once you do this, the page is gone from the front end until you publish it again.

3. Use a Plugin to Manage Page Access

If your site needs more control than the basics, plugins are the next step.

This is common for:

Membership sites
Client dashboards
Logged-in-only content
Role-based access

Access-control plugins let you decide who sees what, based on user role, login status, or even specific conditions.

A few popular ones:

Content Control – Lets you restrict pages, posts, widgets, or even individual blocks
Ultimate Member – Good for user profiles and custom roles
WP-Members – Blocks content from logged-out users

These take a little setup, but once they’re in place, they save a lot of headaches.

4. Use CSS to Hide a Page from Visitors

This one is… kind of a workaround. It’s not always recommended, but it can be useful in very specific cases.

With CSS, you can hide the entire page content so nothing shows on the screen. The page still technically exists, and search engines can still access it, but visitors see a blank page.

To do this, you’ll need the page ID.

How to find it:

Open the page in your browser
Right-click → Inspect
Look for something like page-id-123 in the <body> tag
Note the number

Then go to Appearance → Editor → Styles → Additional CSS and add:

body.page-id-## {
  display: none;
}

Replace ## with your page ID.

If your theme doesn’t support this, a plugin like Simple Custom CSS and JS works fine.

Again, this hides content visually — not from search engines.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide to SEO Keyword Research (Guide 2026)

5. Restrict Access with User Roles and Code

If you’re comfortable touching code, you can block pages using PHP.

This gives you very specific control, like only allowing admins to view a page and redirecting everyone else.

Important: editing functions.php can break your site if you mess up. Using Code Snippets is safer.

Here’s a basic example:

add_action('template_redirect', function() {
    if (is_page(##) && !current_user_can('administrator')) {
        wp_redirect(home_url());
        exit;
    }
});

Replace ## with your page ID.

Anyone who isn’t an admin gets redirected away.

6. Remove the Page from Navigation Menus

Sometimes you don’t need to hide a page at all. You just don’t want it showing up in menus.

This is common for:

Landing pages
Thank-you pages
Utility pages

To remove a page from a menu:

Go to Appearance → Menus
Choose your menu
Click the arrow next to the page
Click Remove
Save the menu

The page still exists. It’s just not easy to stumble onto.

7. Use an SEO Plugin to Hide Pages from Search Engines

If your main goal is keeping a page out of Google, this is usually the best method.

SEO plugins let you add a noindex setting to individual pages. That tells search engines not to show them in results.

Using Yoast SEO:

Install and activate Yoast
Edit the page
Scroll to the Yoast box
Open Advanced
Set Allow search engines to show this page in search results? to No
Optional: set link following to No
Update the page

Rank Math and All in One SEO do the same thing.

8. Block Search Engines with robots.txt

You can also block crawling at the robots.txt level.

This won’t remove pages that are already indexed, but it can stop future crawling.

Add this to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /your-page-slug/

You can edit robots.txt via FTP or through most SEO plugins.

Final Thoughts

There isn’t one “correct” way to hide a WordPress page. It really depends on what you’re trying to do.

Sometimes a private page is enough. Sometimes you just don’t want Google indexing it. Sometimes you need role-based access. Sometimes you just don’t want it in the menu.

Pick the method that fits the situation. And don’t be afraid to combine methods if you need extra control.

How Jetpack AI Assistant Helps

A lot of hidden pages are hidden because they’re not ready yet. The writing feels off. The structure isn’t right. Or you just want to clean things up before anyone sees them.

Jetpack AI Assistant can help with that. It can:

Rewrite awkward sections
Improve clarity
Restructure content
Expand or summarize ideas
Translate content