diff --git a/docs/user/reference/sitemaps.rst b/docs/user/reference/sitemaps.rst
index 67178599e9d..d3144448721 100644
--- a/docs/user/reference/sitemaps.rst
+++ b/docs/user/reference/sitemaps.rst
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ It contains information such as:
 * What translations are available for a page.
 
 Read the Docs automatically generates a ``sitemap.xml`` for your project,
-by default the sitemap includes each version of your documentation and when it was last updated,
+the sitemap includes :ref:`public and not hidden versions <versions:Version states>` of your documentation and when it were last updated,
 sorted by version number.
 
 This allows search engines to prioritize results based on the version number,
diff --git a/readthedocs/proxito/tests/test_full.py b/readthedocs/proxito/tests/test_full.py
index d78a66b2087..eb9877f48a3 100644
--- a/readthedocs/proxito/tests/test_full.py
+++ b/readthedocs/proxito/tests/test_full.py
@@ -1554,6 +1554,17 @@ def test_sitemap_xml(self):
             active=True,
             type=EXTERNAL,
         )
+
+        hidden_version = fixture.get(
+            Version,
+            identifier="hidden-version",
+            verbose_name="hidden-version",
+            slug="hidden-version",
+            privacy_level=constants.PUBLIC,
+            project=self.project,
+            active=True,
+            hidden=True,
+        )
         # This also creates a Version `latest` Automatically for this project
         translation = fixture.get(
             Project,
@@ -1580,7 +1591,8 @@ def test_sitemap_xml(self):
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEqual(response["Content-Type"], "application/xml")
         for version in self.project.versions(manager=INTERNAL).filter(
-            privacy_level=constants.PUBLIC
+            privacy_level=constants.PUBLIC,
+            hidden=False,
         ):
             self.assertContains(
                 response,
@@ -1598,6 +1610,16 @@ def test_sitemap_xml(self):
                 lang_slug=self.project.language,
             ),
         )
+
+        # Hidden version should not appear here
+        self.assertNotContains(
+            response,
+            self.project.get_docs_url(
+                version_slug=hidden_version.slug,
+                lang_slug=self.project.language,
+            ),
+        )
+
         # The `translation` project doesn't have a version named `not-translated-version`
         # so, the sitemap should not have a doc url for
         # `not-translated-version` with `translation-es` language.
diff --git a/readthedocs/proxito/views/serve.py b/readthedocs/proxito/views/serve.py
index c2cae91a1fc..90a9b5f81f3 100644
--- a/readthedocs/proxito/views/serve.py
+++ b/readthedocs/proxito/views/serve.py
@@ -859,6 +859,7 @@ def changefreqs_generator():
         public_versions = Version.internal.public(
             project=project,
             only_active=True,
+            include_hidden=False,
         )
         if not public_versions.exists():
             raise Http404()