Query on Sitemap xml Root Path
-
- Is it compulsory to have sitemap.xml at this path - abcd.com/sitemap.xml?
My sitename is abcd.com. Now is it compulsory to have sitemap.xml at this path - abcd.com/sitemap.xml only?
a) If i take cnd services where path can be like xyz.com/sitemap.xml and then this sitemap i can submit in robot file so it is fine?
b) What will happen here in webmaster tool as in webmaster tool when we submit sitemap by default it gives us domain name like abcd.com and we have to just add /sitemap.xml
-
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your support!
-
Hi,
What is the main reason for you to upload the sitemap to a new location?
I also found an article on sitemaps that might help. It says: The XML sitemaps protocol defines that XML sitemap files can not contain URLs from different domains. This includes subdomains and other kinds of variations. You have to keep all URLs to a single domain per XML sitemap.
Taken from this site https://www.microsystools.com/products/sitemap-generator/help/multiple-domains-xml-sitemaps/
This includes tutorials on different types of sitemaps.
Hope this can help further.
Thanks,
Ian
-
Hi Ian,
I have a large ecommerce website whose XML site map is currently located at https://www.abcd.com./sitemap.xml , whereas I want to upload it at new location I.e https://data.abcd.com/sitemap.xml it means on new location which is sudomain, Also if it is OK as per Google guidelines to upload your sitemap in sudomain rather than main domain then please let me know that in webmaster console how can I upload this new sitemap? Because when I try to upload sitemap in console it ask mandatorily to upload sitemap to be available at root of the website so what next I can do ? Thanks!
-
Hi,
I Believe it's compulsory for a sitemap to be at abcd.com/sitemap.xml.
Here is a guide on sitemaps and their format for future references: https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html
You tend to only have one sitemap, unless you have a large site then you will need divide the sitemaps across different pages, a general rule of thumb is to keep the sitemap below 50,000 URLs. I'd say one sitemap at abcd.com/sitemap.xml should be enough for a standard website.
I'm unsure of Question a) if you could repeat that in more detail please.
Finally, there are two ways to submit a sitemap,
-
Directly within Google Search Console (previously Webmaster Tools) using the 'Test/Add Sitemap' feature, by adding /sitemap.xml and testing it before submitting it.
-
Insert the your sitemap line anywhere in your
robots.txt
file, specifying the path to your sitemap:
Sitemap: http://example.com/sitemap_location.xml
You can also find more information and guidelines on sitemaps here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en&ref_topic=4581190
Hope that helps.
Ian
-
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
-
General questions about implementing hreflang using XML sitemap
I created another thread regarding hreflang sitemaps. However, this one is more general and doesn't cover multiple sitemaps for different localizations so I think it's reasonable creating a new thread. We are trying to implement hreflang using XML sitemap. We have localized content for a few countries, but only 1/3 of the content is 'duplicate' localized content. How should this be presented in the sitemap? Can we have some urls with hreflang-tags and some without? Also, where should this be located? In the usual sitemap file at site.com/sitemap.xml or should we create a different sitemap site.com/hreflang.xml where we just paste all hreflang-info? And if it should be in /hreflang.xml - can we have the same URL twice (in both current sitemap and hreflang sitemap)?
Technical SEO | | Telsenome0 -
Japanese URL-structured sitemap (pages) not being indexed by Bing Webmaster Tools
Hello everyone, I am facing an issue with the sitemap submission feature in Bing Webmaster Tools for a Japanese language subdirectory domain project. Just to outline the key points: The website is based on a subdirectory URL ( example.com/ja/ ) The Japanese URLs (when pages are published in WordPress) are not being encoded. They are entered in pure Kanji. Google Webmaster Tools, for instance, has no issues reading and indexing the page's URLs in its sitemap submission area (all pages are being indexed). When it comes to Bing Webmaster Tools it's a different story, though. Basically, after the sitemap has been submitted ( example.com/ja/sitemap.xml ), it does report an error that it failed to download this part of the sitemap: "page-sitemap.xml" (basically the sitemap featuring all the sites pages). That means that no URLs have been submitted to Bing either. My apprehension is that Bing Webmaster Tools does not understand the Japanese URLs (or the Kanji for that matter). Therefore, I generally wonder what the correct way is to go on about this. When viewing the sitemap ( example.com/ja/page-sitemap.xml ) in a web browser, though, the Japanese URL's characters are already displayed as encoded. I am not sure if submitting the Kanji style URLs separately is a solution. In Bing Webmaster Tools this can only be done on the root domain level ( example.com ). However, surely there must be a way to make Bing's sitemap submission understand Japanese style sitemaps? Many thanks everyone for any advice!
Technical SEO | | Hermski0 -
Sitemap generator partially finding list of website URLs
Hi everyone, When creating my XML sitemap here it is only able to detect a portion of the website. I am missing at least 20 URLs (blog pages + newly created resource pages). I have checked those missing URLs and all of them are index and they're not blocked by the robots.txt. Any idea why this is happening? I need to make sure all wanted URLs to be generated in an XML sitemap. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Taysir0 -
URL path randomly changing
Hi eveyone, got a quick question about URL structures: I'm currently working in ecommerce with a site that has hundreds of products that can be accessed through different URL paths: 1)www.domain.com/productx 2)www.domain.com/category/productx 3)www.domain.com/category/subcategory/productx 4)www.domain.com/bestsellers/productx 5)... In order to get rid of dublicate content issues, the canoncial tag has been installed on all the pages required. The problem I'm witnessing now is the following: If a visitor comes to the site and navigates to the product through example 2) at time the URL shown in the URL browser box is example 4), sometimes example 1) or whatever. So it is constantly changing. Does anyone know, why this happens and if it has any impact on GA tracking or even on SEO peformance. Any reply is much appreciated Thanks you
Technical SEO | | ennovators0 -
Sitemap international websites
Hey Mozzers,Here is the case that I would appreciate your reply for: I will build a sitemap for .com domain which has multiple domains for other countries (like Italy, Germany etc.). The question is can I put the hreflang annotations in sitemap1 only and have a sitemap 2 with all URLs for EN/default version of the website .COM. Then put 2 sitemaps in a sitemap index. The issue is that there are pages that go away quickly (like in 1-2 days), they are localised, but I prefer not to give annotations for them, I want to keep clear lang annotations in sitemap 1. In this way, I will replace only sitemap 2 and keep sitemap 1 intact. Would it work? Or I better put everything in one sitemap?The second question is whether you recommend to do the same exercise for all subdomains and other domains? I have read much on the topic, but not sure whether it worth the effort.The third question is if I have www.example.it and it.example.com, should I include both in my sitemap with hreflang annotations (the sitemap on www.example.com) and put there it for subdomain and it-it for the .it domain (to specify lang and lang + country).Thanks a lot for your time and have a great day,Ani
Technical SEO | | SBTech0 -
Is there a maximum sitemap size?
Hi all, Over the last month we've included all images, videos, etc. into our sitemap and now its loading time is rather high. (http://www.troteclaser.com/sitemap.xml) Is there any maximum sitemap size that is recommended from Google?
Technical SEO | | Troteclaser0 -
Google News Sitemap
Currently for our website Thinkdigit, we are using a rss sitemap (http://www.thinkdigit.com/google_sitemap/news_rss.php) for news. Please let me know is this the right format or we should use xml format only. Also we have lost a huge chunk of traffic from news search, Previously it used to be around 10,000 visit from google news, now it is just 300 visit per day.
Technical SEO | | 9dot90 -
Add selective URLs to an XML Sitemap
Hi! Our website has a very large no of pages. I am looking to create an XML Sitemap that contains only the most important pages (category pages etc). However, on crawling the website in a tool like Xenu (the others have a 500 page limit), I am unable to control which pages get added to the XML Sitemap, and which ones get excluded. Essentially, I only want pages that are upto 4 clicks away from my homepage to show up in the XML Sitemap. How should I create an XML sitemap, and at the same time control which pages of my site I add to it (category pages), and which ones I remove (product pages etc). Thanks in advance! Apurv
Technical SEO | | AB_Newbie0