Submit WordPress Sitemap to Google Search Console

Estimated time to execute: 10 to 15 minutes

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Aim: This procedure seeks to locate and submit a WordPress sitemap to Google Search Console, allowing Google to access and index the information on your WordPress Website.

Optimal Outcome: The outcome of this procedure is that the WordPress sitemap is successfully located and submitted to Google, giving the website a far greater chance of appearing in the search results page.

What do you need to start: You will need Google Search Console and a WordPress Website to get started.

Why is this SOP Important: Submitting your WordPress sitemap to Google Search Console is important because it allows Google to find and index the content on your WordPress Website. Without submitting a sitemap, it is possible that Google will not be aware of the content on your website and thus won’t rank it in search results. Submitting a sitemap is an important step in making sure that your website is easily discoverable by Google and other search engines.

When and where to execute: You can complete this SOP whenever you want to produce or update your sitemap.

Who Should Be Doing This: This procedure is the responsibility of the WordPress Website owner or the person in charge of SEO.

What is WordPress Sitemap?

A WordPress sitemap is an XML file that serves as a roadmap to all the pages of a WordPress Website. It helps search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo easily find and index Website pages. The sitemap also contains important information about the page, such as when it was last updated, how often it changes, and its relative importance. Having a WordPress sitemap helps search engines discover new content, so customers can find it faster. Plus, it increases the visibility of the Website, which leads to more traffic and ultimately more sales.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool provided by Google to help websites monitor their search engine performance and visibility. It is also used to manage sitemaps and submit them to Google for indexing. This is important because search engine bots use sitemaps to quickly crawl and index new pages or content on a site. WordPress automatically creates a sitemap for each Website and submits it to Google Search Console. This helps ensure that new pages are quickly crawled and indexed, so customers can find the Website faster.

Execution

Locate your WordPress Sitemap

  1. Open your preferred web browser.
  2. Go to your WordPress site’s homepage by entering the URL in the address bar.
  3. Type “/sitemap.xml” at the end of the website URL in the address bar.                                         For example, if your website URL is “www.myWordPressWebsite.com”, type “www.myWordPressWebsite.com/sitemap.xml”.
  4. Hit enter or click “Go” to navigate to the sitemap page.
  5. Your sitemap should now be displayed in XML format on the page.
  6. You can view the sitemap contents, copy the URL, or submit the sitemap to search engines as needed.

Submit your Sitemap to Google Search Console

  1. Log in to your Google Search Console Website and select the property you want to submit the sitemap for.
  2. Click on the “Sitemaps” option under “Indexing” in the left-hand menu.

 

3. To add your sitemap, enter “sitemap.xml” in the text box next to your website URL.

4.  Click the “Submit” button to submit your sitemap to Google.

5.  Check the status of your sitemap submission by refreshing the page and looking for any errors or issues. 

6. Repeat the process for any additional sitemaps you may have for the same website.

Conclusion

You’re done! Always remember that submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console is an important step in optimizing your WordPress Website for search engines. A sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the URLs of a website. It helps search engines discover and index all the pages of your website, which can improve your site’s visibility in search engine results. Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console also allows you to view detailed information about your site’s performance in the search engine, including the number of pages indexed, any crawl errors, and more. With this information, you can make changes to improve your website’s visibility and search engine ranking.

Execution Checklist:

  • Log into your Google Search Console Website. 
  • On the left side menu, click on ‘Sitemaps’. 
  • In the top right corner, click on the ‘Add/Test Sitemap’ button. 
  • Enter the URL of your WordPress sitemap. The URL should look like this: www.yourWebsite.com/sitemap.xml 
  • Click on the ‘Submit’ button. 
  • If the sitemap was successfully submitted, you will see a confirmation message.
  • To view your sitemap within the Google Search Console dashboard, go to the ‘Sitemaps’ section and click on the submitted sitemap. 
  • You will then be able to view the information about your sitemap, such as the number of URLs indexed, the number of URLs submitted, and the date the sitemap was last updated.