By Shad Super in Questions —

How Does Updating a Sitemap in the Sitemaps Report Affect the Indexing of Newly Added or Changed Pages?

Summary

Updating a sitemap in the Sitemaps Report ensures that search engines like Google are aware of any newly added or modified pages on your website, facilitating faster and more accurate indexing. This process helps improve the visibility of your updated content in search results. Here's a detailed explanation of how this works.

The Role of a Sitemap

A sitemap is a file where you provide information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site, and the relationships between them. Search engines like Google read this file to more intelligently crawl your site. An updated sitemap helps search engines discover new or changed pages more quickly, improving the site's indexing and search engine optimization (SEO).

Types of Sitemaps

  • XML Sitemaps: The most common type, detailing all the URLs on a website that should be indexed by search engines.
  • HTML Sitemaps: Designed for users, these provide a navigational aid and can help with site structure.

Impact of Updating a Sitemap

When you update a sitemap in the Sitemaps Report, you are essentially telling the search engine that new pages have been added or that existing pages have been modified. Here’s how the update facilitates indexing:

Discoverability of New Content

When new pages are added to a website, an updated sitemap allows search engines to discover these pages. Without a sitemap, it might take search engines longer to find newly added pages, especially on larger sites.

Re-indexing Changed Content

If content on existing pages is updated, submitting an updated sitemap helps search engines recognize these changes. They can then re-crawl and re-index the pages, ensuring that the most current version is available in search results.

Enhancing Crawl Efficiency

An updated sitemap provides search engines with a roadmap of your website, enabling them to crawl more efficiently. This means search engines spend more time indexing important pages rather than waste time on unchanged content.

Submission Process

Using Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a powerful tool where you can submit your updated sitemap. Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Google Search Console.
  2. Select your website’s property.
  3. Navigate to the “Sitemaps” section under “Index”.
  4. Enter the URL of your updated sitemap and click “Submit”.

Using Bing Webmaster Tools

Similarly, for Bing:

  1. Log in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
  2. Go to your site dashboard.
  3. Click on “Sitemaps” under the “Configure My Site” section.
  4. Add the URL of your sitemap and submit it.

Examples

Consider a news website that publishes multiple articles daily. By constantly updating the sitemap, each new article will be discovered and indexed by search engines swiftly, ensuring that their content appears in search results when it is still relevant and fresh.

Best Practices

To ensure optimal results from your sitemap updates, follow these best practices:

  • Regular Updates: Constantly update your sitemap as new content is published or existing content is modified.
  • Clean Structure: Ensure that your sitemap is clean and free from errors. Tools like Google's Sitemap Generator can help.
  • File Size: Keep within the recommended file size limits (no more than 50MB uncompressed).

Conclusion

Updating a sitemap in the Sitemaps Report is a crucial task for improving a website's indexing efficiency. By keeping your sitemap current, you help search engines quickly discover and accurately index your web content, enhancing your site's visibility and SEO performance.

References