diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/README.md b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/README.md
index dd5c33da85416..e38bfc2022ca2 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/README.md
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ generated sitemap will include all of your site's pages, except the ones you exc
 
 ## Options
 
-The `defaultOptions` [here](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/blob/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js#L15) can be overridden.
+The `defaultOptions` [here](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/blob/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js#L20) can be overridden.
 
 We _ALWAYS_ exclude the following pages: `/dev-404-page/`,`/404` &`/offline-plugin-app-shell-fallback/`, this cannot be changed.
 
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-node.js b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-node.js
index 0e1b90e834889..addadeb22dfc3 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-node.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-node.js
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@ import { defaultOptions, runQuery, writeFile } from "./internals"
 const publicPath = `./public`
 
 exports.onPostBuild = async ({ graphql }, pluginOptions) => {
-  delete pluginOptions.plugins
+  const options = { ...pluginOptions }
+  delete options.plugins
+  delete options.addLinkToHead
 
   const { query, serialize, output, exclude, ...rest } = {
     ...defaultOptions,
-    ...pluginOptions,
+    ...options,
   }
 
   const map = sitemap.createSitemap(rest)
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-ssr.js b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-ssr.js
index 052232134c956..0642ecdbde94e 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-ssr.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/gatsby-ssr.js
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@ import { withPrefix } from "gatsby-link"
 import { defaultOptions } from "./internals"
 
 exports.onRenderBody = ({ setHeadComponents }, pluginOptions) => {
-  let { output } = { ...defaultOptions, ...pluginOptions }
+  let { output, addLinkToHead } = { ...defaultOptions, ...pluginOptions }
+
+  if (!addLinkToHead) {
+    return
+  }
+
   if (output.charAt(0) !== `/`) {
     output = `/` + output
   }
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js
index 15c4d4f25cc64..8255d27a3213b 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-sitemap/src/internals.js
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export const defaultOptions = {
   }`,
   output: `/sitemap.xml`,
   exclude: [`/dev-404-page`, `/404`, `/offline-plugin-app-shell-fallback`],
+  addLinkToHead: true,
   serialize: ({ site, allSitePage }) =>
     allSitePage.edges.map(edge => {
       return {