How to Submit a Sitemap to the Google Search Console
Before you begin:
- Your 3local site must be published and live.
- You must have access to the Google Search Console and have your domain set up as a property.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Open Google Search Console
- Visit Google Search Console.
- Log in using the Google account associated with your site.
- Choose or create the correct property for your domain (e.g. https://yourdomain.com).
2. Copy the Sitemap from 3local
- In a new tab, go to your 3local dashboard.
- Click “My Site”, then scroll down to “Site Details.”
- Locate the sitemap URL (e.g. https://local.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml).
- Copy this URL (everything after the domain name, typically: sitemap.xml).
3. Submit Sitemap in Google Search Console
- Back in Google Search Console, go to the left-hand menu.
- Under “Indexing”, click on “Sitemaps.”
- In the “Add a new sitemap” field:
- Paste the copied sitemap.
- Click “Submit.”
4. Confirm Submission
- A success message should appear immediately (e.g. “Sitemap submitted successfully”).
- You may also see:
- ✅ Discovered pages: e.g., “61 pages discovered.”
- ⚠️ Couldn’t fetch: If this happens, just refresh the page and it should update correctly. - If this persists, delete the sitemap and resubmit.
Google will now begin crawling and indexing the pages listed in your sitemap.
Recommended Practices
- Only submit one sitemap per site.
- If your content changes often, consider resubmitting your sitemap after major updates.
- Monitor your sitemap status periodically in Search Console under “Indexing > Sitemaps.”