A short HubSpot Academy tutorial (YouTube) explaining how to submit an XML sitemap to search engines so they can index a website's pages. The video walks users through adding a domain and sitemap URL in Google Search Console and submitting a sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools (also applicable to Yahoo). It also notes verification and propagation may take time.
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Hi there, I'm Corey with HubSpot Academy. Before we get started, don't forget to hit that thumbs up button and subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date with more educational content from HubSpot. Now let's walk through how to submit your sitemap to Google first, sign into Google Search Console. Search Console will be your dashboard for testing and submitting updated sitemaps to Google so you can ensure Google is always aware of your latest pages published to your site. To get started, add in your domain into the blank field. This website should just be the domain name, the parent URL to which all of your other web pages belong. Then click Continue. Once your ownership is verified, click Go to Property. If your ownership isn't verified, double check that you are logged into the correct Google account. Now that you have your domain added into your Search Console account, the next step will be to add your sitemap. In the left hand bar under index, click Sitemaps to submit a new sitemap. You'll simply need to type in the URL where your sitemap lives. Adding a new sitemap requires you to add a string of text to the end of your website's domain. Think of it like a tracking tag, allowing Google to examine all of the activity that takes place inside of your website. This sitemap tag is sitemap XML and you'll want to add it to the end of your domain name. For example, if Your domain is YourCompany.com, you'll tag it like YourCompany.com sitemap xml. Submit your sitemap and you're all set. Depending on how much page authority you have already accumulated on Google, it might take some time to see the status of your submitted sitemap. Give it time, Google will eventually accept it. Now let's walk through how to submit a sitemap to Bing or Yahoo. First, sign into Bing Webmaster Tools. Under the My Sites page, enter the URL for your company and click Add. In the Add a SiteMap field, enter yourdomain.com SiteMap XML, complete the rest of the required fields on the page, and then click Save. Then you're all set. To learn more about how to create high performing websites that drive traffic and convert leads, check out HubSpot Academy's free course on website optimization.