If you’ve started your own website, it’s obvious that you’d want it to rank on Google. To make that happen, the first step is to submit your website’s sitemap to Google.
Now the question is what exactly is a sitemap, how does it actually work, and what is its connection to our website?
What is a Sitemap?
A sitemap is basically a map of your website that contains a complete list of all the pages and blog posts.
This list is added to a single file called sitemap.xml.
The file has an .xml extension, which allows Google to easily read and understand your website.
A sitemap helps Google understand the overall structure of your website including its menus, pages and blogs and this understanding helps your site rank better on Google.
What are the Benefits of a Sitemap?
A sitemap plays a very important role in helping your website rank on Google.
It allows Google’s bots to crawl and index your website properly.
Because of the sitemap, you can also identify in Google Search Console which pages have issues such as 404 errors or redirects.
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What Happens If You Don’t Have a Sitemap?
If your website doesn’t have a sitemap, Google will find it difficult to understand your website properly.
Its crawlers (robots) won’t be able to identify how many pages or blog posts your website contains.
That’s why, whenever you create a website, make sure to generate and submit its sitemap to Google after completing it.
How to Create a Sitemap
To create a sitemap, follow these simple steps:
- Go to Sitemap Generator Tool.
- Enter your website link and add “/sitemap.xml” at the end of the URL.
(Example: https://www.xyz.com/sitemap.xml) - Select the necessary options or settings. If you’re unsure, just leave them as default.
- Click on Create Sitemap.
- Once it’s generated, click Download to save your sitemap file.
Now, you’ll need to upload this file to your hosting. Follow the steps below.
How to Upload Your Sitemap
- Log in to your web hosting account and open the File Manager.
- Upload the sitemap file into the main folder (root directory) where all your website files and the index.html file are located.
- After uploading, go to your browser and type your sitemap URL:
(Example: https://www.xyz.com/sitemap.xml)
You should now see a page showing all your website pages listed.
Congratulations! 🎉
Your sitemap has been successfully created and is now live generated with the help of our Sitemap Generator tool.
Next, let’s move on to submitting it to Google.
How to Submit a Sitemap in Google Search Console
To submit your sitemap to Google, follow these steps carefully:
- Go to Google and search for Google Search Console, then open the official website.
- Click on “Add Property” or “Submit a New Website” and enter your website URL.
- Google will give you a verification code (TXT tag) copy it and paste it into your website’s header.php file, between the
<head>and</head>tags. - After adding it, click Verify your website will now be verified.
- From the left-hand menu, click on Sitemaps.
- In the field, paste your sitemap URL for example:
(https://www.xyz.com/sitemap.xml) - Click Submit.
That’s it! ✅
Your website’s sitemap has now been submitted to Google. Within about 14 days, Google will begin indexing your site, and gradually your blogs and pages will start ranking.
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