Submit XML Sitemaps to Search Engines

The first step in submitting XML sitemaps is letting search engines know about your XML sitemap file in one of two ways:

1. Most search engines such as Google and Yahoo have a webmaster tools page. In this you can submit most knds of sitemap files such as e.g. XML sitemaps.
   • Google Webmaster Tools
   • Bing Webmaster Tools (MSN)
   • Yahoo SiteExplorer
   
   
2. Add a reference to your XML sitemap file in the robots.txt file often found in your website root. This method is called sitemaps autodiscovery and is explained further in our sitemap generator and robots file help page.

In the beginning no search engines supported cross submit multiple websites in one XML sitemap file. However, now most include support for new ways of managing sitemaps across multiple sites. Requirement is you need to verify ownership of all websites:

• Sitemaps protocol: Cross sitemaps submit and manage using robots.txt.
• Google: More website verification methods than sitemaps protocol defines.

Remember: You will need to upload your generated XML sitemap to your webserver before submitting sitemap. Some search engines allow you to select the sitemap file kind you are submitting. This has to match with the sitemap file already uploaded to your webserver/website.

Generally speaking, you should update your XML sitemap when your website changes. A1 Sitemap Generator supports multiple kinds of website scan options useful for large websites. These include resume and refresh website scan.

When you have updated your XML sitemap, you will need to upload it and ping search engines. Read about notifying search engines about changes in your XML sitemap in our XML sitemap ping answer.

If your website changes constantly, you may want to consider an alternative solution: Automate website scan each night, and have our sitemap generator update and upload your XML sitemap there. The sitemap automation can also ping search engines.