Google Processing but Not Indexing XML Sitemap
-
Like it says above, Google is processing but not indexing our latest XML sitemap. I noticed this Monday afternoon - Indexed status was still Pending - and didn't think anything of it. But when it still said Pending on Tuesday, it seemed strange.
I deleted and resubmitted our XML sitemap on Tuesday. It now shows that it was processed on Tuesday, but the Indexed status is still Pending. I've never seen this much of a lag, hence the concern.
Our site IS indexed in Google - it shows up with a site:xxxx.com search with the same number of pages as it always has.
The only thing I can see that triggered this is Sunday the site failed verification via Google, but we quickly fixed that and re-verified via WMT Monday morning.
Anyone know what's going on?
-
It resolved itself in the next week with no further action taken. Site verification wasn't a problem - in fact, I couldn't find anything that was causing it. Normally it's less than 24 hours for our sitemaps to be processed and indexed, this one just took a few days.
-
Hey David,
Quick question: It's been over a month. Are you still having this issue?
From what you've said it sounds like the site verification failure is likely what caused this. However it is worth noting that even if Google ingests a sitemap it doesn't necessarily mean they will index the pages. I would suggest you review your site log files to see if Google is indeed crawling those new URLs, if they are they are likely discarding them because you are fulfilling your crawl allocation with more important pages and these new pages haven't been given any link or social activity.
-Mike
-
Apparently I'm the only one who's ever had this problem. Interesting.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Spotify XML Sitemap
All, Working on an SEO work up for a Spotify site. Looks like they are using a sitemap that links to additional pages. A problem, none of the links are actually linked within the sitemap. This feels like a strong error. https://lubricitylabs.com/sitemap.xml Thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dmaher0 -
Google Update
My rank has dropped quite a lot this past week and I can see from the Moz tools that there is an unconfirmed Google update responsible. Is there any information from Moz on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | moon-boots0 -
HTML or XML sitemap - benefits
Hi all, Can I use only HTML sitemap or I should use both versions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Tormar
How much I would lose in case when I would lose only HTML sitemap, without XML sitemap? Thank you.0 -
Our client's web property recently switched over to secure pages (https) however there non secure pages (http) are still being indexed in Google. Should we request in GWMT to have the non secure pages deindexed?
Our client recently switched over to https via new SSL. They have also implemented rel canonicals for most of their internal webpages (that point to the https). However many of their non secure webpages are still being indexed by Google. We have access to their GWMT for both the secure and non secure pages.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RosemaryB
Should we just let Google figure out what to do with the non secure pages? We would like to setup 301 redirects from the old non secure pages to the new secure pages, but were not sure if this is going to happen. We thought about requesting in GWMT for Google to remove the non secure pages. However we felt this was pretty drastic. Any recommendations would be much appreciated.0 -
Do XML sitemaps need to be manually resubmitted every time they are changed?
I have been noticing lately that quite a few of my client's sites are showing sitemap errors/warnings in Google webmaster tools, despite the fact that the issue with the the sitemap (e.g a URL that we have blocked in robots.txt) was fixed several months earlier. Google talks about resubmitting sitemaps here where it says you can resubmit your sitemap when you have made changes to it, I just find it somewhat strange that the sitemap is not automatically re-scanned when Google crawls a website. Does anyone know if the sitemap is automatically rescanned and only webmaster tools is not updated, or am I going to have to manually resubmit or ping Google with the sitemap each time a change is made? It would be interesting to know other people's experiences with this 🙂
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Jamie.Stevens0 -
How long does google index old urls?
Hey guys, We are currently in the process of redesigning a site but in two phases as the timeline issues. So there will be up to a 4 week gap between the 1st and 2nd set of redirects. These urls will be idle 4 weeks before the phase content is ready. What effect if any will this have on the domain and page authority? Thanks Rob
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | daracreative0 -
How to remove wrong crawled domain from Google index
Hello, I'm running a Wordpress multisite. When I create a new site for a client, we do the preparation using the multisite domain address (ex: cameleor.cobea.be). To keep the site protected we use the "multisite privacy" plugin which allows us to restrict the site to admin only. When site is ready we a domain mapping plugin to redirect the client domain to the multisite (ex: cameleor.com). Unfortunately, recently we switched our domain mappin plugin by another one and 2 sites got crawled by Google on their multsite address as well. So now when you type "cameleor" in Google you get the 2 domains in SERPS (see here http://screencast.com/t/0wzdrYSR). It's been 2 weeks or so that we fixed the plugin issue and now cameleor.cobea.be is redirected to the correct address cameleor.com. My question: how can I get rid of those wrong urls ? I can't remove it in Google Webmaster Tools as they belong to another domain (cf. cameleor.cobea.be for which I can't get authenticated) and I wonder if will ever get removed from index as they still redirect to something (no error to the eyes of Google)..? Does anybody has an idea or a solution for me please ? Thank you very much for your help Regards Jean-Louis
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JeanlouisSEO0 -
Freshness Index?
Hi, I've been a member for a few months but this is my first entry. I typically build small portal websites to help attract more customers for small business approx. 5-7 pages and very tightly optimized around one primary keyword and 2 secondaries. These are typically very low competition. I do no link building to speak of. I don't keyword stuff or use poorly written content. I know that may be subjective but I believe the content I am using is genuinely useful to the reader. What I have noticed recently is the sites get ranked quite well to begin with e.g. anywhere from the bottom half of the first page to page 2-3 and they stick for maybe 2-3 weeks, and the client is very happy, they then just vanish. It's not just the Google dance either these sites don't typically come back at all or when they do they are 100+ I was advised this was due to the freshness index but honestly these sites are hardly newsworthy...just wondering if anyone had any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nichemarkettools0