Create and submit an XML sitemap
Tell search engines exactly which pages to index with a machine-readable sitemap.
What it means
An XML sitemap is a file at /sitemap.xml that lists all your important pages, their last-modified dates, and how often they change. Search engines read it to discover content they might otherwise miss — especially on large sites or sites with few internal links.
Why it matters
Without a sitemap, search engines rely on crawling links to find pages. New or orphaned pages can go unindexed for weeks. A sitemap also lets you signal priority and freshness, giving you control over how Googlebot spends its crawl budget.
How to fix it
- Generate the sitemap: most CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow) do this automatically — check Settings or install a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
- For custom sites, use a sitemap generator tool (xml-sitemaps.com or a build-step library) or write the XML manually — each <url> entry needs a <loc> and ideally a <lastmod>.
- Place the file at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml and verify it's publicly accessible.
- Reference the sitemap in your robots.txt file: add the line Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml at the bottom.
- Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console (Indexing → Sitemaps → Add). This triggers Googlebot to process it immediately.
- Exclude low-value pages: no-index pages, pagination, filtered URLs, and admin paths should not appear in the sitemap.
Helpful tools
- Google Search Console
- Yoast SEO (WordPress)
- xml-sitemaps.com