{"id":2987,"date":"2015-03-06T12:24:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T12:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pmpazure.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2015-11-12T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T10:56:30","slug":"how-to-submit-a-sitemap-to-google-bing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.promotemyplace.com\/blog\/how-to-submit-a-sitemap-to-google-bing","title":{"rendered":"How to Submit a Sitemap to Google & Bing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before we get in to the nitty gritty of how to appear in the two major search engines quicker, you have<\/em> created the perfect holiday let website and published it so it\u2019s visible online, right?<\/p>\n

If not, go over our last article on creating that perfect website<\/a> and take action. Don\u2019t try to put the cart before the horse \u2026 it never works.<\/p>\n

If you have published your holiday rental website and it\u2019s \u2018out there\u2019, fantastic, you\u2019re ready to move on.<\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s start with this \u2026<\/p>\n

There are over 180 million active websites <\/strong>on the Internet.<\/p>\n

And let’s say each of them has at least three web pages with optimised content – that\u2019s over 540 million active <\/strong>web pages.<\/p>\n

Wow! That\u2019s a lot<\/em> of web pages competing for eyeballs.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s this got to do with your holiday let website?<\/p>\n

Well, while not all of those websites are competing with yours, some will be. And of those that are, they\u2019ll be optimising their website with similar keywords to you \u2013 location, nearby attractions, events, etc.<\/p>\n

The main difference being the property itself and any unique selling points your property may have.<\/p>\n

And how many results display on the first page of Google?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At most, ten.<\/p>\n

If there are \u2018Google My Business<\/a>\u2019 results then that number decreases.<\/p>\n

But staying optimistic you have, at best, ten chances of your<\/em> holiday rental website appearing on page one of Google.<\/p>\n

Our point? Unfortunately the days of having a website on the World Wide Web without needing to do a bit of work, are long gone.<\/p>\n

But all is not lost if<\/em> you\u2019re prepared to put in a little effort.<\/p>\n

Here is one step that you can do today, to appear in the search results quicker.<\/p>\n

Submit your website\u2019s XML sitemap<\/strong><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/strong> As soon as you hit the \u2018Publish\u2019 button for your new website, it appears online.<\/p>\n

Yes, 100% correct (assuming you\u2019ve got your website hosting in place).<\/p>\n

MYTH:<\/strong> As soon as your website appears online, you can do a Google search and it will appear in the search results instantly.<\/p>\n

No, 100% wrong.<\/p>\n

But why doesn\u2019t it appear in search results instantly?<\/p>\n

It can take several weeks for Google (and other search engines) to index a new website so that it displays in any search results.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the simple reason for this, is that search engine \u2018bots\u2019 need to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find your website, which takes time for new sites, then<\/li>\n
  2. Crawl through it to understand what it\u2019s all about in order to rank it appropriately for search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But the good news is that this process can be sped up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Submitting your website\u2019s XML Sitemap to Google and Bing will help them \u2018find\u2019 it quicker and index it more easily.<\/p>\n

    How to submit your XML Sitemap to Google<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Step 1 \u2013 Verify your website ownership<\/strong><\/p>\n

    To do this, first create an account with Google Webmaster Tools<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"Google<\/a><\/p>\n

    Then enter your website domain name into the field provided and click Add a site<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"Add<\/a><\/p>\n

    The next step you\u2019ll be asked to verify ownership of your website.<\/p>\n

    \"Verify<\/a><\/p>\n

    There are various options for doing this:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Recommended method<\/li>\n
    2. Alternative methods<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Continuing with our theme of keeping things simple, we recommend two options for verifying your website which could be the recommended route, or you may have to click into Alternative Methods<\/strong> \u2013 the one you choose, depends on how much control you have over your website.<\/p>\n

      Option 1 – Upload an HTML file to your website<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \"Verify<\/a>Follow the steps outlined \u2026<\/p>\n

      1) \u00a0Download the HTML verification file Webmaster Tools provide.<\/p>\n

      NB: Do not change the file name. Save it to your computer exactly as it has been given ready to upload to your website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      2) Log in to your website content management system and upload the file to the relevant section of your website.<\/p>\n

      3) Once uploaded successfully, go back to your Google Webmaster Tools page and click the red Verify<\/strong> button<\/p>\n

      \"Verify<\/a><\/p>\n

      Option 2 – Verify using your Google Analytics account<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \"Verify<\/a><\/p>\n

      To use this method, you must have full access to your website source code, feel confident editing HTML code, and of course have a Google Analytics account already set up.<\/p>\n

      Or have a way to connect Google Analytics to your website – as our own website builder has.<\/p>\n

      Once you\u2019ve added your Google tracking code to your website, click Verify<\/strong> and Google will do the rest.<\/p>\n

      Whichever route you choose, you should then have a successfully verified websit<\/p>\n

      \"Verify<\/a>In addition, Google Webmaster Tools recommends the following to maximise your sites performance in a Google search:<\/strong><\/p>\n