While Googlebot will most likely be able to find your site’s XML sitemap over time, you can expedite the process by adding your sitemaps directly into GSC.
To add a sitemap to Google Search Console, follow these steps:
Go to the sitemap you want to add and copy the URL. The syntax of most XML sitemaps is like “https://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml.” Sitemaps automatically generated by content management systems, like WordPress, may have this syntax instead: https://www.domain.com/sitemap_index.xml.
- In Google Search Console, click on Sitemaps in the left column.
- Add your sitemap URL in the Add a new sitemap field at the top of the page and click Submit.
Note that you can add as many sitemaps as your site requires. Many sites will have separate sitemaps for videos, articles, product pages, and images.
- The added benefit of including your sitemaps in this interface is that you can compare the number of pages your site has submitted to Google to the number of indexed pages.
- To see this comparison, click on the three vertical dots to the right of your sitemap and select “See page indexing.”
- The resulting page will display the number of indexed pages (in green) and pages that are “Not Indexed” (in gray), as well as a list of reasons those pages are not indexed.
To know more abput Sitemaps and how to take advantage of them for Better Search Engine ranking contact our Digital Marketing Agency today