Learn what a sitemap is, why a sitemap is important, and how to submit a sitemap to Google quickly and easily.
What is a sitemap?
In the simplest terms, a sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the content on your website that helps search engines crawl your site and show you in search results.
More specifically, it is an XML file (stands for Extensible Markup Language), which is a format that is preferred by Google to make it easy for their search engine crawlers to read your sitemap.
How do I create a sitemap?
Don't worry – you don't need to generate this yourself! If you're using WordPress, it's going to generate it for you.
Do yourself a favor and install an SEO plugin like Yoast or RankMath. It will not only do all that work for you but will come with all sorts of other SEO benefits to help guide you in optimizing your site.
What should a sitemap contain?
Maybe it's my OCD-driven, program manager-habit control issues poking through, but even if I'm not the one doing the work myself, I like to understand how it fits into the big picture.
But I do believe that in general, even though you are going to let the plugin do the work for you, it's good to understand what it's doing. Should you ever need to troubleshoot any issues with your sitemap in the future, you'll have the context you need.
The XML sitemap should contain the URLs that you want Google to index.
That means it will only include the pages that you want people to be able to search for and find via Google searches.
That also means that it will not include:
- Pages that are “noindex”
- Non-canonical pages (duplicates of the same page)
- Error pages (3XX or 4XX status codes)
Again, if you're using WordPress and/or an SEO plugin like Yoast or RankMath, it will automatically adhere to best practices and you don't need to worry about checking what it is or isn't including.
When should I submit a sitemap to Google?
You should submit your sitemap to Google when you first publish your new site, or when you make major architectural changes to your site that would warrant a re-crawl.
Where do I submit a sitemap?
You're going to submit your sitemap in Google Search Console. If you don't already have your GSC account set up, you'll need to take care of that first.
P.S. If you ever hear someone reference “webmaster tools”, they're talking about Google Search Console. That was the original name that's been deprecated since 2015, but sometimes old habits die hard 😉
How to submit a sitemap to Google
The process of submitting a sitemap to Google is simple and only requires a couple minutes of your time:
- You'll find your sitemap URL
- Then submit it to Google Search Console
Where is my sitemap?
Your sitemap file is typically located in what's called the root directory of your domain. For example, for Stress Baking my sitemap is located at https://stressbaking.com/sitemap_index.xml.
The naming convention may vary, but it's usually one of these variations:
- https://www.yourblog.com/sitemap_index.xml
- https://www.yourblog.com/sitemap.xml
Find sitemap in robots.txt
If you use an SEO tool like Yoast or RankMath, it will generate a robots.txt file for you. The robots.txt file provides directives to Google's web crawlers and usually includes a link to your sitemap to help the search engines find it quickly.
The robots.txt file is also typically found in the root directory of your domain. For example, for Stress Baking my robots.txt file is located at https://stressbaking.com/robots.txt.
How to find sitemap
How to find your sitemap URL in Yoast
- Login to your WordPress instance
- In the left sidebar, scroll down and click on Yoast SEO
- Now click on “Settings” and scroll down to the bottom of that Site Features page until you find the XML Sitemaps box. Make sure the “Enable feature” checkbox is toggled on.
- Click on “View XML Sitemap” and it will open your sitemap in a new window
- Your sitemap URL is the URL that is populating that browser window. For example, for my site Stress Baking, the URL is
https://stressbaking.com/sitemap_index.xml
How to find your sitemap URL in RankMath
- Login to your WordPress instance
- In the lefthand navigation, scroll down and click on RankMath SEO
- Now click on “Sitemap Settings”
- It will display your sitemap URL right at the top of the page
How to submit a sitemap to Google
- Login to your Google Search Console account
- Click on “Sitemaps” in the lefthand navigation, about halfway down the page
- It will bring you to a page prompting you to “Add a new sitemap”, and all you have to enter is the tail end of the URL that your SEO plugin gave you. So for
https://stressbaking.com/sitemap_index.xmlI just need to entersitemap_index.xmland then hit the Submit button to the right - Now you just wait for Google to accept that sitemap submission request and crawl your site!
How long does it take for Google to crawl my site?
At the time I'm writing this, the amount of time this takes is all over the map (pun intended). I've seen it happen in a matter of hours, and I've seen it take two weeks.
My advice? Just submit and then carry on with your life because something you're going to become intimately familiar with in the process of blogging is that Google does whatever Google wants to do.
Do I have to submit a sitemap to Google?
No – Google would eventually find your site and crawl it.
But submitting your sitemap manually speeds the process along and gives you a solid data point that you can reference in Google Search Console.
I've made a lot of site changes – how do I resubmit an XML sitemap to Google Search Console?
Here's the thing:
Technically you only need to submit your sitemap once in Google Search Console, and then after that, it will routinely re-crawl your site.
However – in my personal opinion and experience – if you've made major architectural changes to your site, you'll want to remove the original sitemap and then submit a fresh new one.
How to remove sitemap from Google Search Console
- Login to your Google Search Console account
- Click on “Sitemaps” in the lefthand navigation, about halfway down the page
- Click on the name of the sitemap you're looking to remove – in this example, let's say it's
/sitemap.xml - On the top right of the page it opens you'll see three dots – click on that and then click on “Remove sitemap”
- Once that's confirmed to be removed, you'll submit the URL again fresh like you did previously
NOT SURE WHERE TO START?
Don't worry – we've got resources for you to dig into to help you get the ball rolling! Check out some of these articles:
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