Removing sitemaps.xml from the SERPs

[KentR]

Hi

What's the best way to remove sitemaps.xml from the SERP

Thanks

[TakeshiYoung]

Why would you want to remove it from the SERP? There's no harm in it being there, and it's unlikely to outrank your actual pages for your keywords.

[StreamlineMetrics]

I'm not sure why you would want to remove the sitemap.xml from the SERPs, but I'll answer your question anyways.

One option would be to remove the URL via Google Webmaster Tools.

Another option is to use the X-Robots-Tag directive in the HTTP header and set it to noindex. Here is some more info on how to set it up http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/robots-exclusion-protocol-now-with-even.html and http://sebastians-pamphlets.com/handling-googles-neat-x-robots-tag-sending-rep-header-tags-with-php/

[TakeshiYoung]

Make sure to set the X-Robots directive to NOINDEX|FOLLOW, or you'll completely defeat the purpose of the sitemap.