JS Morisset

Extends the WordPress Sitemaps XML:
Improve the WordPress sitemaps XML with article modification times, alternate language URLs, news sitemaps, images sitemaps, video sitemaps (requires WPSSO Core Premium for video details) and more.

Include Alternate Languages:
Include <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/crawling/localized-versions#sitemap" rel="nofollow ugc">localized pages for Google</a> (ie. alternate language URLs) from PolyLang and WMPL.
Include Images and Videos:
Optionally include images and videos in the WordPress sitemaps XML. Note that video information requires the WPSSO Core Premium plugin for video details.
Include Post Type Archives:
Include missing post type archive pages in WordPress sitemaps (like the WooCommerce shop page and The Events Calendar events page).
Select Post Types and Taxonomies:
Optionally include or exclude post types and taxonomies from the WordPress sitemaps XML.
Exclude Noindex and Redirected URLs:
Exclude noindex and redirected posts, pages, custom post types, taxonomies (categories, tags, etc.), and user profiles pages from the WordPress sitemaps XML.
<h3>WPSSO Core Required</h3>
WPSSO WP Sitemaps XML is an add-on for the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpsso/" rel="ugc">WPSSO Core plugin</a>, which creates extensive and complete structured data to present your content at its best for social sites and search results – no matter how URLs are shared, reshared, messaged, posted, embedded, or crawled.

WPSSO WP Sitemaps XML with News, Image, and Video Sitemap

Extend the WordPress sitemaps XML with article modification times, alternate languages, news sitemaps, image sitemaps, and video sitemaps.

Webmaster Net

Oliver Krautscheid (oliversk)

I looked for a plugin the other day to generate a proper Google News sitemap. Unfortunately, most of them were either not working, premium plugins or too bloated. 
After looking for a good while and testing a handful of plugins, I set out to make a plugin that is compatible with recent Google News additions, including the possibility to specify many parameters manually.
I hope to maintain this plugin throughout 2014 and 2015 and add a few more features. If there are any bugs please report them so they can be fixed with the next release.
<h4>Some of the new features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Provide publication name manually – if you don’t want it to be your Homepage name</li>
<li>Provide site language using Google’s language codes</li>
<li>Provide related stock tickers manually</li>
<li>Rather than excluding categories, this plugin allows you to include categories only</li>
</ul>
<h4>Why You Should Include Only A Few Categories</h4>
Google is very picky about what sites they include. If you create a sitemap that is fetching content from your entire site, you won’t get accepted.
It is a far better idea to create a “News” and “Opinion Piece” category
<h4>What features will you add in the next version</h4>
Next on the list are additional genres: Opinion Piece, Op/Ed and other genres accepted by Google.
<h4>How do I avoid my blog from dropping out of Google News</h4>
For more info, check out the following article:
<ul>
<li>[Avoiding Google News Pitfalls] (https://www.webmaster.net/one-surefire-way-of-blocking-your-news-posts-from-getting-indexed-into-google-news-from-your-wp-blog/). </li>
<li><a href="https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/74288?hl=en" rel="nofollow ugc">Google News Sitemap Guidelines</a>.</li>
</ul>

Working News Sitemap Generator For Google News (2015)

Liteweight sitemap generator for Google News that is actually working and easier to use than any of the existing plugins.

WPSSO WP Sitemaps XML with News, Image, and Video Sitemap vs Working News Sitemap Generator For Google News (2015)