Clarification on indexation of XML sitemaps within Webmaster Tools
-
Hi Mozzers,
I have a large service based website, which seems to be losing pages within Google's index. Whilst working on the site, I noticed that there are a number of xml sitemaps for each of the services. So I submitted them to webmaster tools last Friday (14th) and when I left they were "pending".
On returning to the office today, they all appear to have been successfully processed on either the 15th or 17th and I can see the following data:
13/08 - Submitted=0 Indexed=0
14/08 - Submitted=606,733 Indexed=122,243
15/08 - Submitted=606,733 Indexed=494,651
16/08 - Submitted=606,733 Indexed=517,527
17/08 - Submitted=606,733 Indexed=517,498Question 1: The indexed pages on 14th of 122,243 - Is this how many pages were previously indexed? Before Google processed the sitemaps? As they were not marked processed until 15th and 17th?
Question 2: The indexed pages are already slipping, I'm working on fixing the site by reducing pages and improving internal structure and content, which I'm hoping will fix the crawling issue. But how often will Google crawl these XML sitemaps?
Thanks in advance for any help.
-
Hi again
This means that because you have multiple sitemaps, Google is going to crawl those at different times possibly and at different rates, hence some of your sitemaps taking a day longer. I really wouldn't look into it too much, and just be assured that Google is crawling your sitemaps fine and indexing.
If you notice major discrepancies in what you submitted and what's being indexed, then I would refer to this Google resource on how to fix issues or errors you find in your sitemap crawl.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
-
Hi there
You submitted on the 13th, there were 0 pages indexed. The next day there were 122,243, so in that time period, Google indexed 122,243 of your site's pages.
This is a day by day process. So whatever new number appears on each day, subtract the previous day's number from your present day number, and that's how many pages were freshly indexed.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
-
Just checked webmaster tools again, and now they (sitemaps) all say processed on 17th and some say 18th (today) does this mean the sitemaps are being processed by Google every couple of days?
-
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for elaborating on question 2.
Question 1, I asked if the number (122,243) was how many pages were in the index** before** google processed the sitemaps, as they don't appear to have been processed until the following day.
You answered, yes but then said its how many pages were processed that day?
Thanks again for your time and clarification.
-
Hi there
Question 1 - Yes, this is how many pages Google indexed from your sitemap on that day.
Question 2 - XML sitemaps allow you to tell Google the change frequency of your URLs - you can learn more about that here. Also, according to Google:
Google's spiders regularly crawl the web to rebuild our index. Crawls are based on many factors such as PageRank, links to a page, and crawling constraints such as the number of parameters in a URL. Any number of factors can affect the crawl frequency of individual sites.
Our crawl process is algorithmic; computer programs determine which sites to crawl, how often, and how many pages to fetch from each site. We don't accept payment to crawl a site more frequently. For tips on maintaining a crawler-friendly website, please visit our Webmaster Guidelines.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or comments.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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
-
Image sitemap
I work on a big eCommerce site with thousands of pages. We are talking about crating a separate image sitemap. Any idea example of an eCommerce site who has a separate image sitemap? I looked several and cant find one. Also, what are the best practices for creating a good image sitemap? thanks!
Technical SEO | | bizuH0 -
Bing Webmaster Tools Incompatibility Issues with new Microsoft Edge Browser
Our client received an email from Bing WMTs saying "We have identified 4 known issues with your website in Microsoft Edge – the new default browser for Windows 10 and Bing – Of the four problems mentioned, only two seem to be relevant (maybe) We’ve found that this webpage may include HTML markup that treats Microsoft Edge differently from other modern browsers. The new EdgeHTML rendering engine for Microsoft Edge is document-mode agnostic and designed for fast, modern rendering. We recommend that you implement one code base for all modern browsers and include Microsoft Edge as part of your modern browser test matrix. **We've found that this webpage may have missing vendor-specific prefixes **or may have implemented vendor-specific prefixes when they are not required in common CSS properties. This may cause compatibility problems with how this webpage renders across different browsers. Last month the client received 20K visitors from all IE browsers and this is significant enough to be concerned about. **Are other folks making changes to their code to adapt to MS Edge? **
Technical SEO | | RosemaryB0 -
What would cause a sudden drop in indexed sitemap pages?
I have made no changes to my site for awhile and on 7/14 I had a 20% drop in indexed pages from the sitemap. However my total indexed pages has stayed the same. What would cause that?
Technical SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
De-indexed from Google
Hi Search Experts! We are just launching a new site for a client with a completely new URL. The client can not provide any access details for their existing site. Any ideas how can we get the existing site de-indexed from Google? Thanks guys!
Technical SEO | | rikmon0 -
Google not found errors in webmaster tool help
Hi, Google Webmaster tools sent me a few messages recently about the jump in the number of 'not found' errors. From 0 to 290 errors, ouch. I know what it's from but I think Google is seeing things. We developed another page/subdomain we're working on with links back to the root domain. Basically a complete list of articles page that lists each article and links back to the root domain. Not sure what Google is crawling but the links that would result in a 'not found' error aren't there. Will these disappear over time? Thanks for the help!
Technical SEO | | astahl110 -
Bing and Yahoo Indexing
I have a young site (6 most) that is almost completely indexed by Google but Bing and Yahoo will only index a few pages. Does anyone have any tips for getting more pages indexed in Bing and Yahoo. The site is registered with Bing Webmaster tools and has a valid XML sitemmap.
Technical SEO | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Page not being indexed
Hi all, On our site we have a lot of bookmaker reviews, and we are ranking pretty good for most bookmaker names as keywords, however a single bookmaker seems to have been shunned by Google. For a search "betsafe" in Denmark, this page does not appear among the top 50: http://www.betxpert.com/bookmakere/betsafe All of our other review pages rank in top 10-20 for the bookmaker name as keyword. What to do if Google has "banned" a page? Best regards, Rasmus
Technical SEO | | rasmusbang0 -
Webmaster tools question
Hello i have a doubt. in my webmaster tools my sitemap is showing like this | /sitemap.xml | OK | Images | Nov 27, 2011 | 2,545 | 1,985 | i am not sure why the type is showing like Images i have one blog attached to the same webmaster account and it is showing correctly.. | /blog/sitemap.xml | OK | Sitemap | Nov 28, 2011 | 695 | 449 |
Technical SEO | | idreams0