Stay organized with collectionsSave and categorize content based on your preferences.
May 24, 2006
In this post, we thought we'd answer a couple of the questions we've been seeing in theGoogle Grouplately.
Why do I have to add my Sitemap file to my Google Sitemaps account? Can't I just link to it from
my site?
There are several reasons we ask you to add the Sitemap file. Here are a couple of them:
If you aren't yet indexed,submitting a Sitemap filelets us know
about your site—you can proactively tell us about it rather than wait for us to find it.
When you add your Sitemap file to your Google Sitemaps account, we can let you know if thefile has any errors,
and then you can resubmit the file once you've fixed the errors.
My site is indexed using both the www and non-www versions of the domain. How can I fix this?
This can happen when both versions of the domain (for instance,https://www.example.com/andhttps://example.com/) point to the same
physical location, and links to your site use both versions of the URL. To tell us which version
you want the content indexed under, we recommend you do a301redirect from one version to the
other. If your site runs on an Apache server, you can do this using an.htaccessfile. You can also use a script. Do a Google search for301redirectfor more information on how to set this up for your site. Note that once you implement the301redirect, it may take some time for Googlebot to recrawl the pages, follow the
redirects, and adjust the index.
If your pages are listed under both versions of the domain,don't use our URL removal toolto remove one version of the pages. Since the pages are at the same physical location for both
versions of the domain, using the URL removal tool will remove both versions from the index.
We also suggest you link to other pages of your site using absolute, rather than relative, links
with the version of the domain you want to be indexed under. For instance, from your home page,
rather than link toproducts.html, link tohttps://www.example.com/products.html. And whenever possible, make sure that other
sites are linking to you using the version of the domain name that you prefer.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eSubmitting a Sitemap file helps Google discover and index your site, especially if it's new.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsing Google Sitemaps allows you to check for errors in your Sitemap file and resubmit after fixing them.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo resolve duplicate indexing of www and non-www domains, implement a 301 redirect from one version to the preferred one.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAvoid using the URL removal tool for duplicate domain indexing as it may remove both versions from the index.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUse absolute links with your preferred domain version when linking internally and encourage external sites to do the same.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Submitting a Sitemap file allows proactive site notification to Google, and enables error reporting. To resolve indexing of both \"www\" and non-\"www\" domain versions, use a `301` redirect to the preferred version, achievable via `.htaccess` on Apache servers or through scripting. Avoid the URL removal tool, as it removes both versions if they share the same location. Use absolute links on your site and encourage external sites to link to your preferred domain version.\n"],null,["# A few questions from our Google Group\n\nMay 24, 2006\n\n\nIn this post, we thought we'd answer a couple of the questions we've been seeing in the\n[Google Group](https://support.google.com/webmasters/community) lately.\n\nWhy do I have to add my Sitemap file to my Google Sitemaps account? Can't I just link to it from\nmy site?\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThere are several reasons we ask you to add the Sitemap file. Here are a couple of them:\n\n- If you aren't yet indexed, [submitting a Sitemap file](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/overview) lets us know about your site---you can proactively tell us about it rather than wait for us to find it.\n- When you add your Sitemap file to your Google Sitemaps account, we can let you know if the [file has any errors](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451001), and then you can resubmit the file once you've fixed the errors.\n\nMy site is indexed using both the www and non-www versions of the domain. How can I fix this?\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nThis can happen when both versions of the domain (for instance,\n`https://www.example.com/` and `https://example.com/`) point to the same\nphysical location, and links to your site use both versions of the URL. To tell us which version\nyou want the content indexed under, we recommend you do a `301` redirect from one version to the\nother. If your site runs on an Apache server, you can do this using an `.htaccess`\nfile. You can also use a script. Do a Google search for\n[`301` redirect](https://www.google.com/search?q=301+redirect)\nfor more information on how to set this up for your site. Note that once you implement the\n`301` redirect, it may take some time for Googlebot to recrawl the pages, follow the\nredirects, and adjust the index.\n\n\nIf your pages are listed under both versions of the domain,\n[don't use our URL removal tool](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7479439)\nto remove one version of the pages. Since the pages are at the same physical location for both\nversions of the domain, using the URL removal tool will remove both versions from the index.\n\n\nWe also suggest you link to other pages of your site using absolute, rather than relative, links\nwith the version of the domain you want to be indexed under. For instance, from your home page,\nrather than link to `products.html`, link to\n`https://www.example.com/products.html`. And whenever possible, make sure that other\nsites are linking to you using the version of the domain name that you prefer.\n\nPosted by [Vanessa Fox](https://www.vanessafox.com/)"]]
