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How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google and Bing for Better SEO

Improve your site's SEO by submitting your sitemap to Google and Bing. This step-by-step guide will help you get started with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to boost your site’s visibility.

Why This Feature Matters
Submitting your sitemap to Google and Bing is essential for improving SEO. These search engines use sitemaps to understand your site's content and index it, which increases your chances of ranking higher. The process of submitting ensures that Google and Bing can crawl your pages effectively, enhancing the overall user experience and improving organic search results.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Create Your Sitemap
    Your main page sitemap will be located at:

    bash
    Copy
    https://www.[YOUR SITE NAME].com/sitemap.xml

    This will include all content pages and blog posts.

    To submit property listing detail pages, break the listings into multiple sitemaps. This is necessary because each sitemap should include no more than 5,000 links. Consider segmenting your property listings by areas such as county or price range.

  2. Create Property Listing Sitemaps

    • Log in to your admin area.
    • Navigate to Saved Searches and choose the saved search to base your new sitemap on. Alternatively, create a new saved search.
    • On the Manage Saved Searches page, click the List button next to your chosen search.
    • The search results will open in a new window with a URL like:
      bash
      Copy
      https://www.[YOUR SITE NAME].com/property-search/results/?searchtype=2&searchid=8673968
    • Remove the "searchtype=2&" from the URL so it looks like this:
      bash
      Copy
      https://www.[YOUR SITE NAME].com/property-search/results/?searchid=8673968
    • Construct the sitemap URL like this:
      pgsql
      Copy
      https://www.[YOUR SITE NAME].com/property-search/sitemap.xml?searchid=8673968

    Sitemap Submissionite for Indexing

  3. Submit Sitemaps to Google and Bing
    After creating your sitemaps, head over to Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools and go to the sitemap section.
    You can submit as many sitemaps as needed, allowing Google and Bing to crawl and index your property listings efficiently.

Best Practices

  • Ensure each sitemap contains no more than 5,000 links.
  • Break larger property listing sets into smaller sitemaps (by county, price range, etc.) to optimize crawling.
  • Regularly check the performance and index status of your sitemaps via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • Problem: My sitemap isn’t showing up in search results.
    Solution: Check the sitemap submission status in your Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools account. It may take a few days for new sitemaps to be indexed.

  • Problem: I can’t submit the sitemap, and I see an error.
    Solution: Ensure the sitemap URL is correctly formatted and follows the instructions. Double-check that the sitemap file is accessible to search engine bots.

FAQs
Q: How do I divide my property listing sitemaps?
A: Divide your listings by county, property type, or price range to ensure each sitemap has fewer than 5,000 links.

Q: Can I submit multiple sitemaps for different parts of my site?
A: Yes, you can submit multiple sitemaps to both Google and Bing for different sections of your site (e.g., blog posts, property listings, etc.).

Q: How do I check if my sitemap has been indexed?
A: You can check the status of your sitemaps within Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools. Both platforms provide reports on indexed URLs and errors.