<b>You cannot nest sitemap indexes</b>

<b>You cannot nest sitemap indexes</b>

A sitemap index may only point to sitemaps — never to another index. Validators pass it; Google rejects the children.

Rules:
— ✅ <code>&lt;sitemapindex&gt;</code> children are <code>.xml</code> sitemap files, not other index files.
— ✅ Max 50,000 sitemaps listed per index.
— ✅ Max 50 MB per index file.

Doing the math: 50,000 indexes × 50,000 URLs = 2.5 billion URL ceiling. One level deep is enough for any site alive.

If you need more structure, don't nest — partition by type instead:
Step 1 — One index at root.
Step 2 — Child sitemaps grouped by section (products, posts, categories).
Step 3 — Submit only the root index to GSC.

Definition of done: index → sitemap → URL, exactly two hops, never three.