How to Submit Blogger Sitemap to Google Search Console

How to Submit Blogger Sitemap to Google Search Console


If you're a blogger looking to improve your website's visibility on Google, one of the essential steps you should take is submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console. A sitemap is like a roadmap that helps search engines navigate and understand the structure of your website. 

By submitting your Blogger sitemap to Google Search Console, you're ensuring that your content gets indexed accurately, leading to better search engine rankings and increased organic traffic. In this guide, we'll walk you through the process step by step.

Why Submitting a Sitemap Matters

Submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console is a crucial step in ensuring that your website is effectively crawled and indexed by search engines. Here's a more detailed explanation of why submitting a sitemap matters:

1. Comprehensive Indexing

Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to crawl and index web pages. While they can discover your content through links, submitting a sitemap provides a direct and organized list of all your website's pages. This is particularly beneficial if your site has pages that are not well-linked or are buried deep within your site's structure. By providing a sitemap, you're ensuring that even the most obscure content has a chance to be indexed.

2. Faster Indexing of New Content

For bloggers who frequently publish new content, a sitemap is invaluable. When you publish a new blog post, it might take some time for search engines to discover and index it. By submitting a sitemap, you're notifying search engines of your new content, reducing the time it takes for your posts to appear in search results.

3. Prioritization and Context

Within your sitemap, you can provide additional information about each page, such as its importance relative to other pages on your site. This helps search engines understand the hierarchy and structure of your content. You can also include metadata like when a page was last updated, which can help prioritize the indexing of more recent and relevant content.

4. Effective URL Discovery

If your website has a complex structure or uses dynamic URLs, there's a chance that search engine bots might miss some of your pages during the crawling process. A sitemap acts as a guide that leads search engines to every nook and cranny of your website. This ensures that all your valuable content is discovered and indexed.

5. Improved User Experience

A well-organized sitemap not only benefits search engines but also enhances the user experience. Visitors who navigate your site through the search bar or site search function will find it easier to discover relevant pages if those pages are properly indexed. This can lead to longer time spent on your site, lower bounce rates, and increased engagement – all of which positively influence your site's overall SEO.

6. Diagnostic Insights

When you submit a sitemap, Google Search Console provides valuable insights into how search engines are interacting with your site. You can see which pages were successfully indexed, which encountered errors, and how frequently search engine bots are crawling your site. This data allows you to identify and address any indexing issues promptly.

7. Mobile and Rich Content

Modern websites often feature various content types beyond simple text, such as images, videos, and interactive elements. A sitemap can include information about these types of content as well, helping search engines index your multimedia content and ensuring that it appears in relevant search results, including specialized searches like Google Images or Videos. 

Submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console is a strategic move that can greatly enhance your website's visibility in search engine results. It streamlines the indexing process, enables quicker discovery of new content, and improves the overall search experience for both search engines and users. By taking advantage of this simple yet powerful tool, bloggers can give their content the best chance to shine in the competitive online landscape.

Steps to Submit Your Blogger Sitemap

Follow these simple steps to submit your Blogger sitemap to Google Search Console:

1. Access Google Search Console

If you haven't already, create an account on Google Search Console. Once you're logged in, add your website property by clicking on the "+ Add Property" button and entering your blog's URL.

2. Locate Your Sitemap

In your Blogger dashboard, find the "Settings" section and select "Search preferences." Under the "Crawlers and indexing" section, you'll see the option to edit your custom robots.txt file. Click on that.

3. Generate Your Sitemap URL

A sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages and content on your website. It's like a table of contents for search engines, helping them understand the structure of your site and the relationships between different pages. In the context of a Blogger blog, your sitemap is automatically generated by Blogger, and you just need to ensure that it's accessible to search engines.

Here's how to generate your sitemap URL:

  1. Access Your Blogger Dashboard: Log in to your Blogger account and access your blog's dashboard.
  2. Navigate to Settings: In the left-hand menu, click on "Settings."
  3. Choose Search Preferences: Within the "Settings" section, click on "Search preferences."
  4. Access Custom robots.txt: Under the "Crawlers and indexing" section, you'll see the option labeled "Custom robots.txt." Click on this option to edit your custom robots.txt file.
  5. Edit the Robots.txt File: In the custom robots.txt editor, you'll see the default content. You need to make sure that your sitemap is allowed to be accessed by search engines. Add the following line to your robots.txt file: Sitemap: https://yourblogname.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
  6. Replace "yourblogname" with your actual Blogger URL.
  7. Save Changes: After adding the line for your sitemap URL, save the changes to your custom robots.txt file.

By adding the sitemap line to your robots.txt file, you're essentially telling search engine crawlers where to find your sitemap. This enables search engines like Google to easily locate and process your sitemap to index your content accurately.

4. Submit Your Sitemap URL

Submitted sitemap

Return to Google Search Console. In the property you've added, find the "Sitemaps" section in the left menu. Click on it and then on the "Add a new sitemap" on the top right. Your sitemap URL should look like this:
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
Replace "yourblogname" with your actual Blogger URL.
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

If the number of articles on your blogger blog has reached between 1 and 150, then add a sitemap below.

https://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=150

For the number of articles more than 150 and up to 300, also add the following sitemap.

https://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=151&max-results=300

And so on you can add a sitemap according to the number of blog articles. Now all you have to do is wait for Google to index all the posts on your blog. In fact, we can just submit the sitemap.xml, but something else in case of possible index delays.

5. Monitor Sitemap Status

After submitting your sitemap, Google Search Console will display the status of your submission. It might take some time for Google to process your sitemap and index your pages. Keep an eye on the status to ensure there are no errors.

Final Thoughts

Submitting your Blogger sitemap to Google Search Console is a fundamental step in optimizing your blog for search engines. It ensures that your content gets indexed accurately and promptly, leading to better visibility in search results. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you're taking a proactive approach to improving your blog's SEO and driving organic traffic. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process. 

Regularly update your sitemap with new content and monitor your Google Search Console account for any notifications or issues related to your sitemap. With patience and consistent effort, you'll see positive results in your blog's search engine performance. Learn more about creating effective sitemaps to enhance your SEO strategy.
By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to improving your Blogger blog's search engine visibility. Remember, SEO is a journey, and each step you take brings you closer to your blogging goals. Good luck!
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