How do I submit a sitemap in Search Console?

The short version

• Find your sitemap first. On WordPress it’s usually made for you by an SEO plugin or WordPress itself.
• In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the address under Add a new sitemap, and select Submit.
• Success means Google read it. Couldn’t fetch and Has errors need a look.
• You need owner access to submit. Without it, list the sitemap in your robots.txt file.
• Submit once. You don’t need to resubmit every time you add a page.

How do I find my sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site you want search engines to find. Our glossary entry on XML sitemaps explains it in plain words. You probably already have one:

• WordPress with an SEO plugin (such as Yoast or Rank Math): usually yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml.
• WordPress without one: WordPress has made a basic sitemap since version 5.5, at yourdomain.com/wp-sitemap.xml.
• Other website builders: most make one automatically, often at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Your builder’s help pages give the exact address.

Type the address into your browser. You should see a list of page links or a list of smaller sitemaps. If you get a “page not found” message, ask whoever built the site where the sitemap is.

How do I submit it?

These steps follow Google’s Sitemaps report page.

1. Sign in to Search Console and pick your property at the top left.
2. In the left menu, under Indexing, select Sitemaps.
3. Under Add a new sitemap, paste the sitemap address.
4. Select Submit.
5. Look at the Submitted sitemaps table below. The status may show as pending for a short while, then change.

Only one sitemap needs submitting if it’s a sitemap index, the kind that lists other sitemaps. Google reads the rest from it.

What do the statuses mean?

Google’s limits are 50,000 addresses and 50MB per sitemap file. Few small-business sites come close.

Why does a sitemap matter?

Google mostly finds pages by following links. A sitemap gives it a full list, which helps most when:

• the site is new and few other sites link to it;
• you’ve just launched a redesign and many addresses changed;
• some pages are hard to reach through your menus, such as old blog posts.

The Sitemaps report also gives you a quick health check. If it says Success and lists a sensible number of pages, Google has your map.

What are the common mistakes?

• Expecting instant results. Google’s page says a sitemap “can take time” to process and that not every listed address will be crawled. A sitemap is a hint, not an order.
• Listing pages you don’t want in Google. Thank-you pages, test pages and tag archives don’t belong. Most SEO plugins let you leave whole sections out.
• Two plugins making two sitemaps. If an SEO plugin and WordPress each make one, submit the plugin’s, which usually turns the WordPress one off.
• A staging or old domain in the sitemap. After a move, check that every address uses your live domain and https.
• Resubmitting after every new blog post. A working sitemap updates itself, and Google rechecks it on its own schedule.
• Relying on the old “ping.” Google switched off its sitemap ping in late 2023, per its June 26, 2023 post. Old plugin settings that still ping do no harm, but they do nothing either.

What if the sitemap still says Couldn’t fetch?

1. Open the address in a private browser window. If you see an error or a login page, Google almost certainly does too. If it loads fine, that doesn’t prove Google gets the same response, because a firewall or CDN can treat Google’s crawler differently, so do the live test next.
2. Run a live test. Google suggests inspecting the sitemap address with the URL Inspection tool and selecting Test live URL. The Page fetch line should say Successful.
3. Check robots.txt. A rule that blocks the sitemap’s folder stops Google reading it. Our glossary page on robots.txt explains the file.
4. Check security tools. A firewall or security plugin can block Google by mistake. Your host can check its logs.
5. Wait a day and resubmit. Short outages happen.

If the sitemap reads fine but pages still aren’t indexed, the sitemap isn’t the problem. Our guide to Page indexing statuses shows the reason Google gives for each page.

Can I remove a sitemap?

Yes. Open it in the Submitted sitemaps table, open the more options menu, and choose Remove sitemap. Google’s page warns this only removes it from the report. Google remembers the addresses it already knows. To keep a page out of Google, use a noindex tag or delete the page, or see removing a page from Google quickly.

How much does it cost, and how long does it take?

Submitting is free and takes two minutes. Google usually reads the file within days, though that isn’t promised. Crawling and indexing the pages in it can take longer, especially on a new site.

How does E-3 handle this?

Sitemaps and indexing checks are part of our SEO and AI search service. For the sites it manages, E-3 is the one who sets up Search Console, with E-3 added as a user, so the sitemap can be submitted from the same account.

Related questions

• How do I check one page and ask Google to index it?
• What do the Page indexing statuses mean?
• How do I read the Performance report?
• Why doesn’t my website show up on Google?
• Back to the complete Search Console guide

Sources

1. Manage your sitemaps using the Sitemaps report (Search Console Help)
2. URL Inspection tool (Search Console Help)
3. Sitemaps ping endpoint is going away (Google Search Central Blog, June 26, 2023)
4. New XML sitemaps functionality in WordPress 5.5 (Make WordPress Core)