Google’s John Mueller answered a query about what number of sitemaps to add, after which stated there aren’t any ensures that any of the URLs will likely be crawled straight away.
A member of the r/TechSEO group on Reddit requested if it’s sufficient to add the principle sitemap.xml file, which then hyperlinks to the extra granular sitemaps. What prompted the query was their concern over just lately altering their web site web page slugs (URL file names).
That individual requested:
“I submitted “sitemap.xml” to Google Search Console, is that this adequate or do I additionally must submit page-sitemap.xml and sitemap-misc.xml as separate entries for it to work?
I just lately modified my web site’s web page slugs, how lengthy will it take for Google Search Console to think about the sitemap”
Mueller responded that importing the sitemap index file (sitemap.xml) was sufficient and that Google would proceed from there. He additionally shared that it wasn’t essential to add the person granular sitemaps.
What was of particular curiosity have been his feedback indicating that importing sitemaps didn’t “assure” that every one the URLs can be crawled and that there is no such thing as a set time for when Googlebot would crawl the sitemap URLs. He additionally recommended utilizing the Examine URL device.
He shared:
“You possibly can submit the person ones, however you don’t really want to. Additionally, sitemaps don’t assure that every part is recrawled instantly + there’s no particular time for recrawling. For particular person pages, I’d use the examine URL device and submit them (along with sitemaps).”
Is There Worth In Importing All Sitemaps?
In response to John Mueller, it’s sufficient to add the index sitemap file. Nevertheless, from our facet of the Search Console, I feel most individuals would agree that it’s higher to not go away it to likelihood that Google will or is not going to crawl a URL. For that purpose, SEOs could determine it’s reassuring to go forward and add all sitemaps that comprise the modified URLs.
The URL Inspection device is a strong method as a result of it permits SEOs to request crawling for a selected URL. The draw back of the device is you could solely request this for one URL at a time. Google’s URL Inspection device doesn’t help bulk URL submissions for indexing.
Featured Picture by Shutterstock/Denis OREA
