XML Sitemaps: What They Are and How to Submit One to Google

What Is an XML Sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website, along with information like when they were last updated and how frequently they change. It's not visible to your website visitors. It's a communication tool between your website and search engines.

Why Sitemaps Matter

Search engines discover pages by following links. But not every page on your site is well-linked. New pages, orphan pages, and deep pages might take weeks or months to be discovered naturally. A sitemap tells Google exactly where everything is — and asks it to visit those pages.

Does Every Site Need a Sitemap?

Most sites benefit from having one. It's particularly important for:

• New websites (helps Google discover pages faster)

• Large sites (hundreds or thousands of pages)

• Sites with pages that aren't well-linked internally

• Sites that update frequently

For small sites with good internal linking, a sitemap matters less — but it's still good practice.

Where Is Your Sitemap?

Most platforms generate a sitemap automatically. Check these common locations:

• yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

• yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml

• yoursite.com/wp-sitemap.xml (WordPress with Yoast)

Shopify: yoursite.com/sitemap.xml (automatically generated) WordPress + Yoast: yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml Wix: yoursite.com/sitemap.xml Squarespace: yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

Open Google Search Console

Select your property

Go to Sitemaps (under Indexing in the left menu)

Enter your sitemap URL in the "Add a new sitemap" field

Click Submit

Google will process the sitemap and start crawling the URLs it contains.

What to Check in Your Sitemap

Are all important pages included? Run a quick check — does the sitemap include your homepage, key product/service pages, and blog posts? Are any pages excluded that shouldn't be? Some platforms automatically exclude certain page types. Check that your most important content is listed. Are there any errors? In Search Console, check the sitemap status for any warnings or errors.

What Not to Include in Your Sitemap

Don't include pages that:

• Have a noindex tag

• Return 404 errors

• Are blocked by robots.txt

• Are duplicate content pages

• Are admin or internal pages

Including these creates confusion — you're telling Google a page is important while also telling it not to index it.

FAQ

How often does Google recrawl my sitemap? Regularly, but there's no set schedule. Submitting via Search Console prompts faster crawling. For dynamic sites, Google will check frequently. Does submitting a sitemap guarantee indexing? No. Submission tells Google where your pages are. Google decides whether to index them based on quality and relevance signals. What if my sitemap has errors in Search Console? Common errors include: unreachable URLs (404s in the sitemap), pages blocked by robots.txt, and redirect chains. Fix the underlying issues and resubmit.