I created this video to walk through how to submit a sitemap to Google Search Console, which helps Google discover and index your content more efficiently.
If you’ve launched a new site or made significant updates, submitting a sitemap is one of the first things you should do for SEO. It gives Google a roadmap of your content and can help speed up indexing.
Step 1: Log into Google Search Console
Go to search.google.com/search-console and select your website property. If you haven’t added your site yet, I show how to do that in the beginning of the video using the domain verification method.
Step 2: Go to the “Sitemaps” section
In the left sidebar, click “Sitemaps.” You’ll see a simple form where you can enter the URL path to your sitemap.
If you’re using WordPress with RankMath, Yoast, or All in One SEO, your sitemap is usually found at:
- yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml
Paste this in and click Submit.
Step 3: Check for errors and indexing status
After submitting, Google will queue your sitemap and eventually process it. You’ll see:
- Status (Success, Pending, or Error)
- Last read date
- Discovered URLs count
If there’s an issue, it’s often a formatting error or access restriction (robots.txt, 404, or authentication required).
I walk through how to debug those in the video using Inspect tools and robots.txt testing.
Step 4: Monitor crawl performance
Once submitted, use Coverage and Pages tabs in GSC to monitor:
- Indexed vs non-indexed pages
- Crawled but not indexed
- URLs with errors or redirects
This gives you a clear view of how Google sees your site — especially useful if you’re trying to improve organic traffic.
Do you submit your sitemap manually or rely on your SEO plugin to handle it in the background?