Easy though this is, it is best to also use both the HTML site map and the XML Sitemap methods below. These are a little more advanced to dig into for a new webmaster, but well worth the effort.
Click Add a Property and type in the domain name of your site. Follow the onscreen instructions to verify your site. (Download the HTML file, upload it to your website, then follow the link to confirm the upload. ) Click Verify.
Right now, creating a site map is more important than playing with these tools. You will be using Search Console later in this guide, however, so stay logged in.
Some blog software already lists all your blog posts in a column visible on every page. This is an automatic site map. You can skip down to the XML sitemap instructions later in this section.
For very large websites, use an automatic HTML site map generator, available online or through web developer tool extensions. Make sure not to confuse this with a tool that creates XML sitemaps, described later in this section.
Site maps are useful for visitors as well as search bots. There’s no need to hide this link.
This format also allows you to submit extra information about video and other files that search bots can’t read. For example, this may allow Google to present a thumbnail image of the video on the search results, along with the title and duration.
Some website hosts, including Google Sites, create the sitemap for you and do not allow you to alter it. Refer to the host’s help center if you have trouble locating your sitemap file. If your blog has an RSS 2. 0 or Atom 1. 0 feed, you can submit that in place of an XML Sitemap. All you need is the URL of the feed. If nothing else works, make your own bare-bones Sitemap by creating a . txt document that lists all your site’s page URLS on a separate line. The URLs must be UTF-8 encoded to handle special characters, but many text programs will do this for you if you check a box on the Save screen. If you are interested in customizing your Sitemap’s metadata, you can find more information on writing Sitemaps from Google Search Console API and other online resources.
Check the list at the bottom of this page for more explanations on error messages.
