How To Add Sitemap To Google Search Console

Google Search Console, a complimentary service provided by Google, assists website owners in tracking their site's performance within Google search outcomes. A crucial step to enhance your website's likelihood of showing up in search results involves submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console. In the following article, we will discuss the importance of incorporating a sitemap into Google Search Console and provide a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this.

Why add a sitemap to Google Search Console?

A sitemap is essentially a file that consists of an orderly list of all your website's pages that you want search engines to explore and index. Providing a sitemap through Google Search Console guides Google towards the desired pages for crawling, facilitating better discovery. Consequently, this increases the chances of your site being part of search results and can positively affect its position in search engine rankings.

Submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console also gives you valuable information about your website's performance in search results. You can see which pages are being indexed by Google, how often they are being crawled, and any errors that are preventing Google from indexing your pages. This information can help you identify issues with your website's structure and content and make changes to improve your website's performance in search results.

Learn more about XML Sitemaps

How to add sitemap to Google Search Console

To include a sitemap in Google Search Console, all you have to do is follow these easy steps:

1. Sign in to Google Search Console.
2. Select the website from the list of properties.
3. Click on the "Sitemaps" tab in the left-hand menu.
4. Find the "Add a new sitemap" form at the top of the page.
5. Enter the URL of your sitemap in the box provided (e.g. https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml).
6. Click on the "Submit" button.

That's it! Your sitemap has now been submitted to Google Search Console, and Google will start using it to crawl your website's pages.

What happens next?

It will likely take 24-48hrs for your pages to start appearing, initially most will have a status of Discovered - Currently Not Indexed, this is normal no need to panic. Your pages will join a large queue of pages waiting to be processed and indexed. The speed at which this occurs relies on several factors related to Google's perception of your content's relevance or significance. This process might take anywhere from a few days to 6 months, essentially requiring patience on your part.

If you would like to speed this process up Indexing Services like Tag Parrot can bulk request your pages being indexed, which speeds up the whole process to a matter of a couple of days.

Learn more about How to Setup Google Search Indexing