Submit Your PhotoBiz Sitemap to Google Search Console

How to Submit Your Website Sitemap to Google Search Console

Overview

Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console helps Google discover your website pages and lets you monitor whether Google can read your sitemap. Your PhotoBiz website automatically creates and updates an XML sitemap, so you do not need to create or upload one yourself. Your sitemap is already active, even if you have not submitted it to Google. This guide explains how to submit it, check its status, and understand the difference between discovered and indexed pages.

Important Note About Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a third-party service owned and managed by Google. PhotoBiz does not control Google’s verification process, crawl schedule, indexing decisions, search rankings, or reporting tools.

Submitting a sitemap does not guarantee that Google will crawl or index every page or improve your search rankings. For help with Google’s reports or indexing decisions, visit the Google Search Console Help Center.

STEP ONE

Open Google Search Console and sign in to your Google account.

Select the verified property for your website. A property is the website or domain you manage in Search Console. You need owner permissions to submit a sitemap.

You can use either a verified DOMAIN property or a verified URL PREFIX property. If you use a URL Prefix property, select the one that matches your website’s preferred address:

https://www.yourdomain.com/

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.

If you have not verified your domain, follow our guide to verify your domain with Google Search Console using PhotoBiz DNS tools. This method applies when your domain uses PhotoBiz’s AWS Route 53 nameservers. If your DNS is managed elsewhere, add Google’s verification record through your DNS provider or use another verification method offered by Google.

STEP TWO

Open a new browser tab and enter your sitemap URL:

https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name. Confirm that the sitemap opens. It may display XML text containing website URLs rather than a designed webpage. This is expected.

PhotoBiz generates this file automatically. You do not need to use a sitemap generator or upload a separate file.

For help finding your sitemap URL in your PhotoBiz account or understanding which pages it includes, see How to Find and Control Your XML Sitemap in PhotoBiz.

STEP THREE

Return to Google Search Console and click SITEMAPS in the left-hand menu.

Check SUBMITTED SITEMAPS before adding a new submission. If your correct sitemap URL is already listed with a SUCCESS status, it has already been submitted successfully. You can continue to the final step to review its details.

If your sitemap is not listed, locate ADD A NEW SITEMAP. If Google already displays your website address before the entry field, enter only:

sitemap.xml

If no website address appears before the field, enter the full sitemap URL:

https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Click SUBMIT.

FINAL STEP

Find your sitemap under SUBMITTED SITEMAPS and review its STATUS. Click the sitemap entry to see its details.

A SUCCESS status means Google fetched and processed the sitemap successfully. Processing may take time, so check again later if that status does not appear immediately.

Once your sitemap shows SUCCESS, your submission is complete. Google determines when to read the sitemap again and when to crawl the pages it contains.

Understanding Your Sitemap Report

The Sitemaps report includes:

LAST READ: The last time Google fetched your sitemap file. This does not show when Google last crawled every page on your website.
DISCOVERED PAGES: The number of unique page URLs Google found in the sitemap. This is not the number of pages Google has indexed.
STATUS: Whether Google processed the sitemap successfully or encountered an issue.

To review which pages are indexed, open the PAGE INDEXING report. Use URL INSPECTION to check an individual page.

Indexing means Google has added a page to its search index so it can be considered for search results. A page can be discovered without being indexed.

Helpful Notes

PhotoBiz automatically updates your sitemap when you add or remove pages or change page visibility.
Website Builder pages set to VISIBLE appear in your sitemap. Pages set to HIDDEN or DISABLED, along with deleted pages, are excluded.
Removing a page from your sitemap does not automatically remove it from Google’s search results. A hidden page remains accessible through its direct URL and may still be discovered by search engines.
You generally do not need to resubmit your sitemap after routine website updates.
Google does not provide a guaranteed timeframe for crawling or indexing your pages.
Your XML sitemap does not include individual blog post URLs. If you use the PhotoBiz Blog, follow our guide to submit your blog RSS feed to Google Search Console to help Google discover your recent blog posts.

Troubleshooting

Your Sitemap Shows an Error

If the status shows COULDN’T FETCH or reports errors, click the sitemap entry to review the details.

Check the submitted URL for typing errors and confirm that it opens in your browser. If you use a URL Prefix property, make sure the property matches the sitemap’s https://www address.

Some errors are temporary. If the problem continues, review Google’s Sitemaps report documentation. After resolving a persistent issue, resubmit the sitemap.

If your sitemap does not open in your browser, contact PhotoBiz Support.

Your Sitemap Is Successful, but a Page Is Not Indexed

A successful sitemap submission confirms that Google can read the sitemap. It does not confirm that every listed page has been indexed.

Use the PAGE INDEXING report or URL INSPECTION to review Google’s information about the page. Repeatedly submitting a successful sitemap does not guarantee indexing.

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