How to Submit a Sitemap to Google (in 3 Simple Steps)

An XML sitemap is simply a record that lists a site’s webpages for hunt engines for illustration Google to observe and adhd to their databases. It helps guarantee your pages tin look successful hunt results—traditional integrated listings and AI-powered hunt experiences for illustration Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.

A sitemap’s URL is typically “domain.com/sitemap.xml” aliases “domain.com/sitemap_index.xml.”

You tin find a domain’s XML sitemap URL by Googling “sitemap site:domain.com filetype:xml.” Like this:

If your tract doesn’t person a sitemap, create 1 pinch a sitemap generator tool.

Google tin find your XML sitemap connected its own, but submitting the sitemap to Google ensures it’s found. From there, Google crawls your sitemap and (hopefully) makes your pages show up for users sooner.

Let’s locomotion done the process of submitting a sitemap to Google. 

How to Submit a Sitemap to Google

To taxable an XML sitemap to Google, travel the steps successful our guideline to Google Search Console to link your site, and past proceed pinch the steps below. 

Step 1: Navigate to Your Domain successful Google Search Console

Log successful to your Google Search Console relationship and prime your tract from the drop-down successful the apical near area if you person much than one. 

Step 2: Go to the ‘Sitemaps’ Report

Go to the “Sitemaps” study successful Google Search Console’s “Indexing” conception successful the near sidebar.

Step 3: Add Your Sitemap

To decorativeness submitting your XML sitemap successful Google Search Console, paste your sitemap’s URL into the “Add a caller sitemap” conception and click “Submit.” 

Google crawls submitted sitemaps arsenic soon arsenic it can. Check the “Sitemaps” study again wrong a fewer hours aliases days to spot if Google processed your sitemap successfully, which is indicated pinch the “Success” status.

How to Remove and Resubmit Sitemaps

If your site architecture has changed aliases your sitemap has errors, region and resubmit your sitemap utilizing these steps:

1. Log successful to your Google Search Console account
2. If you ain aggregate sites, usage the drop-down paper successful the apical near area to prime the correct site
3. Click “Sitemaps” nether the near sidebar’s “Indexing” section
4. In the “Submitted sitemaps” section, click the statement pinch the sitemap you want to remove
5. Click the three-dot paper icon successful the apical correct corner. Then, click “Remove sitemap.”
6. Confirm the removal by clicking the “Remove” fastener successful the pop-up model that appears
7. Wait for Google to process your request

Alternatively, delete the sitemap record from your site. Google will eventually stop checking it if it’s unavailable for a definite period.

If your caller sitemap has the aforesaid URL arsenic the original sitemap, don’t delete your original sitemap. Simply resubmit it utilizing the steps above. Google will reprocess it.

If you don’t person a sitemap (or don’t resubmit it), crawlers tin still find your site’s pages. But it could return longer. And immoderate pages could beryllium overlooked.

Sitemap Best Practices

Follow these champion practices to thief Google process your sitemaps efficiently:

Include Only the Essential Information

Your sitemap should contain:

• The URLs you want to person indexed: Don’t see pages that you don’t want indexed
• The “lastmod” value: This worth says erstwhile a page was past meaningfully updated. Search engines mention to it to prioritize which pages to crawl.
• The “hreflang” values for your pages’ location-specific variants: If your pages person localized versions, indicate them successful the sitemap to thief hunt engines crawl each version

Don’t see the pursuing successful your sitemap:

• The “changefreq” and “priority” values: Google ignores these values
• Non-canonical URLs: Skip these URLs because they’re replacement URLs to your preferred pages
• 3xx aliases 4xx URLs: You don’t want Google to scale aliases rank these URLs, arsenic they redirect users to different pages (3xx status code) aliases return client-side errors (4xx position code)

Adhere to the Size Limit

Keep your sitemap wrong Google’s size limit—meaning 50MB (uncompressed) aliases 50,000 URLs.

If your sitemap exceeds Google’s size limit, divided it into aggregate sitemaps.

Create Multiple Sitemaps If Needed

Create aggregate sitemaps if your sitemap exceeds Google’s size limit aliases to person abstracted sitemaps for different contented types (e.g., a sitemap for pages, a sitemap for posts, and a sitemap for videos).

If you person aggregate sitemaps, you’ll request to create a sitemap scale record that lists each your sitemaps. Like a array of contents. 

Here’s Semrush’s sitemap index, for instance:

Submit the sitemap scale URL to Google conscionable for illustration you would a regular sitemap.

Common Sitemap Issues and How to Fix Them

Common sitemap issues include:

• Formatting errors: There are errors successful your sitemap file’s format, for illustration missing XML tags
• Incorrect URLs: Your sitemap contains URLs that aren’t expected to beryllium successful a sitemap (e.g., redirects and non-canonical URLs)
• Too large: Your sitemap has exceeded Google’s size limit

We analyzed 50,000 domains for our technical SEO checklist and recovered that astir 31% of those domains had astatine slightest 1 rumor pinch their sitemaps. In different words, sitemap-related issues are rather common. (We captured much information points successful our study than what made it into the last checklist article.) 

Find and hole your sitemap issues by navigating to the “Sitemaps” study successful Google Search Console.

If your sitemap has a “Couldn’t fetch” aliases “Sitemap has # errors” status, Google provides suggested solutions.

Alternatively, audit your tract pinch Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality to observe sitemap problems and other technical SEO issues for illustration surgery links and slow load speeds. Just, configure and tally your audit.

Once Site Audit has finished, click the “Issues” tab and hunt for “sitemap.” A database of imaginable issues pinch your sitemap will appear.

If you person a sitemap issue, click the nexus pinch the number of affected pages.

Clicking the nexus adjacent to the corresponding sitemap rumor will unfastened a caller study pinch a afloat database of affected pages.

Then, click the “Why and really to hole it” nexus to get a elaborate explanation of the sitemap rumor and recommendations for fixing it.

After you’ve fixed each the sitemap-related issues, tally Site Audit again to guarantee they’re resolved.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to immoderate of the astir communal questions astir sitemaps below.

Does Submitting a Sitemap Guarantee Pages Will Be Indexed?

No, submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee that Google will scale your pages. A sitemap helps hunt engines observe your content, but Google whitethorn take not to scale pages that are duplicates, low-quality, aliases marked pinch noindex tags. 

If pages aren't being indexed (which you tin cheque successful Google Search Console) contempt appearing successful your sitemap, attraction connected improving contented quality, fixing method errors, and ensuring your pages supply unsocial worth to users.

How Often Should You Update Your Sitemap?

You should update your sitemap whenever you add, remove, aliases importantly modify pages connected your site. 

Most contented guidance systems (CMS) do this automatically erstwhile you people caller content. If yours doesn't, you'll request to manually update your XML record and resubmit it to Google Search Console.

Do You Need a Sitemap if Your Site is Small?

No, you don’t needfully request to person a sitemap if your website is small, but it’s still recommended because sitemaps go much valuable arsenic your tract grows, are adjuvant if your pages aren't well-connected done internal links, and are useful if you often adhd caller content.

What Does the ‘Couldn’t Fetch Sitemap’ Error Mean?

The "Couldn't fetch sitemap" correction successful Google Search Console intends Google was incapable to entree your sitemap file, typically owed to server issues (like downtime aliases slow consequence times), incorrect record paths, aliases entree restrictions (such arsenic blocked entree successful robots.txt aliases a password-protected path).

Do You Need to Submit a Sitemap to Other Search Engines Besides Google?

You don’t needfully request to taxable your sitemap to different hunt engines fixed really wide utilized Google is, but you tin optionally taxable your sitemap to Bing (via Bing Webmaster Tools). 

Bing and different smaller hunt engines will yet observe your tract done crawling, truthful you tin skip submitting your sitemap to them.

Can a Bad Sitemap Hurt SEO?

Yes, a bad sitemap that includes broken URLs, redirected pages, aliases pages marked pinch noindex tags tin negatively impact your SEO because it tells hunt engines to crawl contented that shouldn't beryllium prioritized aliases can't beryllium indexed.

Regularly reappraisal your website pinch Semrush's Site Audit instrumentality to guarantee your sitemap is free of errors. The instrumentality lets you group up play aliases monthly audits that automatically scan your sitemap and alert you erstwhile issues are detected.