XML Sitemaps and How to Submit Them
An XML sitemap is a tidy list of the pages you want search engines to know about. Think of it as handing Google a contents page for your website so nothing important slips through the cracks.
It is especially valuable for large sites with thousands of pages, for new sites that have few inbound links yet, and for pages buried deep in your navigation where crawlers might otherwise struggle to reach them.
What Belongs in It
A sitemap should list only the canonical, indexable pages you actually want ranked. Filling it with the wrong URLs sends mixed signals and wastes crawl effort.
- Include live, high-value pages that return a 200 status.
- Leave out redirected, blocked or
noindexpages. - Keep it updated automatically as content is added or removed.
Submitting It
Submission is straightforward and worth doing for every site, even small ones. It tells Google where to look rather than leaving discovery to chance.
- Reference the sitemap in your
robots.txtfile. - Add the URL under the Sitemaps section of Google Search Console.
- Check back for any errors Google reports against it.
Keeping It Healthy
A stale sitemap full of dead URLs erodes trust over time. We set sitemaps to regenerate automatically whenever your content changes, so it always reflects the live site and Google never wastes time crawling pages that no longer exist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a sitemap guarantee indexing?
No. It helps discovery, but Google still decides what to index based on quality and relevance.
How often should it update?
Automatically, whenever you publish or remove a page. We set this up so it stays current without manual work.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.