{"id":159,"date":"2018-07-31T20:45:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T20:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/?p=159"},"modified":"2019-11-19T05:26:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T05:26:37","slug":"how-to-submit-your-sitemap-to-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/how-to-submit-your-sitemap-to-google\/","title":{"rendered":"How to submit your sitemap to Google"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Submit your sitemap to Google because \u2018SEO reasons\u2019 &#8211; they say. But what does that even mean and how do you actually do it?<\/p>\n<p>Before we start, let\u2019s just be clear on what some of the above words mean:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sitemap<\/strong> &#8211; in this case we are referring to a sitemap.xml file (<a href=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/sitemaps-sitemap-generators-explained-simply\/\">not Visual sitemaps or HTML sitemaps<\/a>). An XML sitemap is basically a list of all the URLs (pages) in your website and is normally found at yourwebsite.com\/sitemap.xml. A sitemap.xml in it\u2019s raw form looks something like this:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-163 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Google-Screenshot_2018-07-16_11.26.59.png\" alt=\"submit sitemap to google - xml example\" width=\"534\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Google-Screenshot_2018-07-16_11.26.59.png 534w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Google-Screenshot_2018-07-16_11.26.59-300x127.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 534px) 100vw, 534px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>SEO<\/strong> &#8211; stands for \u2018Search Engine Optimisation\u2019, and is all about getting your pages to appear when people type your target keywords into a search engine like Google.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Overview<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#why-submit-a-sitemap-to-google\">Why Submit a Sitemap to Google<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-search-engines-work\">How Search Engines Work &#8211; Explain it Like I\u2019m Five<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-submit-your-sitemap-to-google\">How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google &#8211; Step by Step<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 id=\"why-submit-a-sitemap-to-google\">Why Submit a Sitemap to Google<\/h2>\n<p>If Google doesn\u2019t know about your pages, it can\u2019t add them to it\u2019s list.<\/p>\n<p>By providing Google the link to your sitemap.xml file, you\u2019re saying \u2018here\u2019s all my pages you should know about\u2019! If you don\u2019t tell Google about your pages, then you are just waiting for their crawler to find your pages (and hoping that they do!).<\/p>\n<p>In short, submit your sitemap.xml URL to Google to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get pages indexed now instead of later. Remember, &#8216;later&#8217; means whenever the crawlers manage to find your pages on their own (if they find them at all).<\/li>\n<li>In your Google Search Console account you can get performance information and see errors on indexed pages, which will include ALL your pages if you submit your sitemap.xml.<\/li>\n<li>Get new pages indexed faster when you launch new content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"how-search-engines-work\">How Search Engines Work &#8211; Explain it Like I\u2019m Five<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-167\" src=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-bernard-hermant-663480-unsplash-copy.jpg\" alt=\"sitemap indexing explained - supermarket analogy\" width=\"680\" height=\"617\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-bernard-hermant-663480-unsplash-copy.jpg 2772w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-bernard-hermant-663480-unsplash-copy-300x272.jpg 300w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-bernard-hermant-663480-unsplash-copy-768x697.jpg 768w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-bernard-hermant-663480-unsplash-copy-1024x929.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mr. G works at the supermarket. He has a very special job. Every night he carefully \u2018crawls\u2019 through every product and updates it on his list. This list he calls his \u2018Index\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>You visit the supermarket, and Mr G. is waiting at the entrance to help you find what you need.<\/p>\n<p>You ask him for \u2018spicy noodle sauce\u2019, and he looks at his \u2018Index\u2019 list. He gives you the following options:<\/p>\n<p>1. Chinese spicy noodle sauce &#8211; aisle 3, in the International &gt; Sauce section.<br \/>\n2. Tomato-based pasta sauces &#8211; aisle 5, Pastas &amp; Sauces<br \/>\n3. Spicy tobasco sauce &#8211; aisle 1, Cooking Oils &amp; Condiments<\/p>\n<p>This is how search engines work. Their \u2018crawlers\u2019 roam the internet, jumping between links, and update their \u2018Index\u2019. Then when you ask for something, they give you results based on their Index.<\/p>\n<p>This is why it is important for you make sure your pages are indexed!<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-submit-your-sitemap-to-google\">How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google &#8211; Step by Step<\/h2>\n<p>1. First you need to add the sitemap.xml file to your website so that it appears in the root folder next to your index page. i.e. yourdomain.com\/sitemap.xml or yourdomain.com\/sitemap_index.xml<\/p>\n<p>You might already have one! Here&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/how-to-find-your-sitemap\/\">how to find your sitemap<\/a> if it already exists.<\/p>\n<p>Modern web platforms like Squarespace and Shopify will auto-generate your sitemap.xml file for you. On WordPress you can use the Yoast SEO plugin to generate one.<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise, search \u2018crawl to create XML sitemap\u2019 to find a tool that will crawl your website and give you a sitemap.xml file back.<\/p>\n<p>2. Optional: You can test if your sitemap file is valid with a tool such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xml-sitemaps.com\/validate-xml-sitemap.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.xml-sitemaps.com\/validate-xml-sitemap.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3. Then you need to set up a Google Search Console account (previously Google Webmaster) (<a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about<\/a> &#8211; sign in with your Google account)<\/p>\n<p>4. Click the &#8216;+ Add Property&#8217; (a.k.a. website). If you already have websites, then you&#8217;ll find this in the bottom of the website dropdown list in the top left corner.<\/p>\n<p>Then type in the URL to your website e.g. https:\/\/yourwebsite.com<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-364\" src=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-search-console-add-property.jpeg\" alt=\"google search console add property\" width=\"582\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-search-console-add-property.jpeg 582w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/google-search-console-add-property-300x231.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>5. After adding your website property, you&#8217;ll need to verify that you own it. There are <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/9008080\">many ways to do this\u00a0<\/a> but if you can, add the meta tag to your websites header that shows your unique google-verification-code.<\/p>\n<p>e.g. &lt;meta name=&#8221;google-site-verification&#8221; content=&#8221;<em>your verification string<\/em>&#8220;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>6. After verifying you own the website, back in Google Search Console enter into that website property.<\/p>\n<p>On the left navigation head to Index &gt; Sitemaps<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-365\" src=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sitemap-menu.jpeg\" alt=\"sitemap menu\" width=\"294\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sitemap-menu.jpeg 294w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sitemap-menu-202x300.jpeg 202w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>7. In the &#8216;Add a new sitemap&#8217; box, type in the URL to your sitemap and click Submit.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-366\" src=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/add-sitemap.jpeg\" alt=\"add sitemap in google search console\" width=\"607\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/add-sitemap.jpeg 607w, https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/add-sitemap-300x120.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 607px) 100vw, 607px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s it. You\u2019re done. Google will send you emails with any crawl errors, and you can check your Google Search Console regularly for performance information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submit your sitemap to Google because \u2018SEO reasons\u2019 &#8211; they say. But what does that even mean and how do you actually do it? Before we start, let\u2019s just be clear on what some of the above words mean: Sitemap &#8211; in this case we are referring to a sitemap.xml file (not Visual sitemaps or &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writemaps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}