Why it matters for a small business site
It helps Google and Bing discover every page, especially new ones and ones that few other pages link to. On a small, well-linked site it’s a safety net; it doesn’t make pages rank by itself.
How to check yours
- Visit yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, or look for a Sitemap: line in yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
- Submit it in Google Search Console, under Sitemaps, and check for errors.
- Spot-check that the listed pages load, and that your important pages are in it.
What good looks like
Only the real, public versions of your pages (no redirects, error pages, drafts or pages marked noindex), with dates that change only when a page does. One sitemap file can hold up to 50,000 addresses.
Common mistakes
- Listing pages that redirect, return an error or are marked noindex.
- A sitemap left over from an old site, pointing at pages that no longer exist.
- Never submitting it, and not mentioning it in robots.txt.
- Confusing it with a “site map” page written for visitors.