How to Submit a Sitemap
A sitemap is a crucial part of optimising your website for search engines. It helps search engines like Google and Bing understand the structure of your site, making it easier for them to crawl and index your pages. Submitting a sitemap ensures that all your content is visible to search engines, helping improve your website's ranking and visibility in search results.
Step 1: Create a Sitemap
Most content management systems (CMS) like WordPress automatically generate a sitemap for your website. If you're using a CMS, you can find your sitemap by adding /sitemap.xml to the end of your website's URL. For example: www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml.
If your CMS doesn’t generate a sitemap automatically, or if you're managing a custom-built website, you can create one using tools like Screaming Frog or XML-sitemaps.com. These tools will crawl your site and generate an XML file listing all the URLs on your website.
Step 2: Check the Sitemap
Before submitting your sitemap, it's important to check that it includes all the relevant pages on your website. Make sure your sitemap reflects the current structure of your site, including key landing pages, blog posts, and service pages. If you've recently made updates to your website, ensure that the sitemap is up-to-date.
Step 3: Submit to Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that allows you to monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google search results. Here’s how to submit your sitemap:
Sign in to Google Search Console. If you haven’t already added your site, you’ll need to do that first.
On the left-hand sidebar, click on ‘Sitemaps’ under the ‘Index’ section.
In the ‘Add a new sitemap’ box, enter the URL of your sitemap (e.g.,
www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml).Click ‘Submit’.
Once submitted, Google will start crawling your site using the sitemap you’ve provided.
Step 4: Submit to Bing Webmaster Tools
To ensure full coverage, it’s also worth submitting your sitemap to Bing. Here’s how:
Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
Click on ‘Sitemaps’ under the ‘Configure My Site’ section.
Enter the URL of your sitemap and click ‘Submit’.
Bing will then crawl your site and use the sitemap to help index your pages.
Step 5: Monitor Your Sitemap
After submitting your sitemap, you can monitor its status in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. You’ll be able to see how many pages are indexed, any errors or warnings, and whether there are issues with your sitemap. Regularly checking this ensures that your site is being properly crawled and indexed by search engines.
Final Tips for Sitemap Success
Update your sitemap regularly: Whenever you add new pages or make significant changes to your site, make sure to update your sitemap and re-submit it.
Avoid orphan pages: Ensure all important pages are linked internally from other pages on your site, as this helps search engines find and crawl them.
Check for errors: Use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to check for any errors in your sitemap submission and fix them promptly.
Submitting a sitemap is a simple but essential task in maintaining your website’s SEO health. By ensuring that your pages are properly indexed, you’re giving your site the best chance to rank well in search results and attract organic traffic.
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