Makey Updates

Build a simple sitemap and submit it to Google

An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of the pages on your website. It gives Google a clear inventory of URLs, so new posts, product pages and important landing pages can be discovered and indexed more efficiently. For a small site, the file may contain only a handful of addresses; for a large store, it can organise thousands of them.

Google can crawl a site without a sitemap, but one remains the simplest way to show search engines what matters. A useful sitemap contains public, canonical URLs rather than every page in your database. It complements strong internal linking, clean page titles and reliable hosting, helping Google understand which content represents your site’s main topics.

Australian sites often use a .com.au or .au domain, and the process is the same for a Melbourne studio, a Sydney retailer or a national technology blog. Keep every address complete, including the https:// prefix, and remember that Googlebot is looking for Australian content under the same indexing rules used worldwide.

Choose the pages Google should see

Begin by selecting the public pages you want in search results. Each entry must use one final HTTPS address and point to a page that returns a 200 response. Exclude login screens, internal search results, shopping carts, duplicate tag archives, redirect-only addresses and pages marked noindex. If your site serves the same content on www and non-www URLs, list only the preferred version.

Think in groups rather than individual URLs. A small café site might include its home page, menu, contact page and location page, while a publishing site may need posts, category pages and author archives. Only include pages with distinct, useful content. For an Australian business, pair the technical sitemap with a Google Business Profile; the sitemap cannot transmit opening hours, reviews or map details.

Create a valid XML sitemap

For a small static website, create a plain-text file named sitemap.xml and place it in the root directory, beside robots.txt. The following basic XML sitemap uses the standard sitemap protocol namespace and three canonical URLs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com.au/</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-03-18</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com.au/blog/</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-03-20</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com.au/contact/</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-11</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

The loc element contains the full page address, while lastmod states when the page last changed. Use a real modification date and the YYYY-MM-DD format. The XML declaration, closing tags and URL-encoded characters must be exact; an unescaped ampersand in a query string can make the whole file invalid.

Add accurate metadata without creating noise

Metadata should describe reality, not attempt to manipulate Google. lastmod is useful when content has materially changed, but inaccurate timestamps waste crawl resources. The priority and changefreq elements are optional, and Google generally ignores them, so a simple file with loc and accurate lastmod values is enough.

Use your content management system or static-site generator to rebuild the file after publishing or removing content. WordPress users can use a reputable SEO plugin, while platforms such as Shopify usually publish a sitemap automatically. Do not run several sitemap tools at once, because duplicate XML files or overlapping URL lists can confuse crawlers. Keep one authoritative file at /sitemap.xml and send Google to that address.

Google supports up to 50,000 URLs in one sitemap and 50 MB of uncompressed XML. Larger websites can create a sitemap index that points to several smaller files, although this is unnecessary for a new blog or a small business site.

Test the file before Google sees it

Open the live sitemap URL in a browser and check that it returns XML rather than a 404, login page or hosting error. Paste it into an XML validator, then use Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool on several listed pages. Confirm that each page is indexable and that its canonical tag agrees with the URL in the file. A valid sitemap can still contain the wrong addresses.

Understanding web crawlers and indexing helps with the next check: Googlebot must be able to reach the sitemap and follow the internal links that lead to important pages. Test robots.txt as a logged-out visitor would see it, and inspect server logs if a page is missing. Discovery and indexation are separate stages; finding a URL does not automatically mean it will appear in Google.

Mobile rendering is a separate concern. This Galaxy Note 3 retrospective illustrates how quickly phone design has changed since the phablet era, while Google evaluates the mobile version of a page for search presentation. Use Page Insights in Search Console to check the rendering rather than expecting the sitemap to fix a crowded layout or slow mobile-data response.

Submit the sitemap in Search Console

Open Google Search Console and add or verify the property that covers the live site. The Domain property is the simplest option for a site and all of its subdomains, including a .com.au domain; use the URL-prefix property when you can verify only one directory. After verification, open Sitemaps in the Indexing section, enter the complete sitemap address and select Submit.

Search Console should report the file as submitted, then show discovered URLs in its sitemap report. Use the URL Inspection Tool to request a live test or indexing for a specific page, but do not submit every URL manually. The sitemap supplies the list; Google still decides what to crawl and index according to quality, duplication and site-wide instructions.

Point crawlers to the sitemap

Add a Sitemap directive to the root robots.txt file so crawlers can find the map even outside Search Console. Use the exact absolute URL and keep one directive for the canonical sitemap:

User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://example.com.au/sitemap.xml

The directive is a crawler instruction, not an indexing command. It does not override a noindex tag, and a sitemap should not be used to list blocked or private URLs. Mobile deserves a quick check too: this Galaxy Note 3 retrospective shows how far phone design has moved since the phablet era, while Google’s crawler generally assesses a smartphone rendering. The robots.txt rule applies to that crawler as well, so make access decisions consistently.

Keep it current and indexed

Check the Search Console sitemap report every month or after a major content update. Regenerate the file when you publish, move or remove a page, fix any listed 404s, and keep lastmod truthful. If a URL returns a redirect or a noindex response, remove it from the file. For an Australian site owner, a short Monday arvo check is enough to catch errors before they affect valuable traffic from cities such as Melbourne and Sydney.

Create the file today: generate one clean sitemap.xml, place it at your domain root, add the robots.txt directive, and submit its full address in Google Search Console. Then check the report, correct invalid entries, and give Google a dependable map of every page you want considered.