By Shad Super in Questions —

How Can I Optimize My XML Sitemap to Help Pages Labeled as "Discovered - Currently Not Indexed" Get Crawled and Indexed by Google?

Summary

Optimizing your XML sitemap can enhance the crawling and indexing process of your web pages by Google. This can be achieved through various strategies like precise and fresh XML sitemaps, relevant URL inclusion, using the robots.txt file and optimizing your website's structure. Combining these tactics with regular monitoring may help improve your website's indexing status.

Update Sitemaps Regularly & Accurately

Consistency and Chronology

Make sure your XML sitemap is always up-to-date and reflects the latest available content on your website. It's critical that your XML sitemap and your site's content are in sync. Avoid including any URLs for pages that have been removed from your site [Creating Sitemaps, 2021].

Use XML Sitemap Index

If your website has more than 50,000 URLs, use an XML Sitemap index file to list down the links to all the other sitemap files [Building large site Sitemaps, 2021].

Include Relevant URLs

Quality Over Quantity

Include only those URLs in your XML Sitemap which Googlebot needs to discover. These include new URLs, URLs lost in the architecture of the website, heavily linked URLs, etc. Filling your sitemap with low-quality or irrelevant URLs may lead to ignoring of your sitemap by Googlebots [Site move with URL changes, 2021].

Use Robots.txt File

Improved Crawling Efficiency

Employ the Robots.txt file to allow Googlebot to access important parts of your site and disallow low priority pages. This improves the efficiency of Googlebot, making it focus more on important pages [Robots.txt Specifications, 2021].

Improve Website Structure

Logical Structure

Implement a logical and straightforward structure for your website. The simpler and more user-friendly your website structure, the easier it is for Googlebot to crawl your website [Improve Your Site Structure, 2021].

Interlinking

Use interlinking effectively within your website. This will allow Googlebot to discover new pages through existing ones [Link Schemes, 2021].

Monitor Sitemap Status

Google Search Console

Monitor your sitemap status regularly in Google Search Console. This will help you identify and address issues such as errors in your sitemap or specific pages that Googlebot is struggling to crawl [Learn about sitemaps, 2021].

Conclusion

Optimizing your XML sitemap and practicing good website structure can significantly improve the index status of your "Discovered - currently not indexed" pages on Google. Regular updates, relevance, and monitoring are essential to this process.

References