Google Sitemaps (Pt4) Submitting Your Sitemaps Online

This step is actually fairly simple to do.

Before we actually submit our sitemaps to search engines, we'll want to test them for validation of proper formatting, link structure, and any other error that might occur.

To test our sitemaps, we'll need to visit this site:
http://www.validome.org/google/

Simply select whether your sitemap is a regular one or an index. Click validate.

For help on errors contained within your validation process, please visit:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/protocol.html#sitemapValidation

NOTE: Google Webmaster Tools will give you error suggestions if your sitemap is not found valid. This may help you debug the problem.

After Validation - What's Next?
Once you have validated each file one by one, it is time to submit them to search engines.

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Google Submission:

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Step 1) Create a Google Webmaster account
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

2) Site Validation:
From there, if you haven't already, you will need to validate your web site in order to submit your sitemap.

Look for the form box containing "Click here to add a site". Then choose the method you want to validate it. Follow the instructions carefully.





3) Browsing the Tools:
Once validated, click on "Dashboard" (top/left) and then click on your web site address.



From there you will have a few options, which we will discuss in a future tutorial, but for now, click on "Sitemaps".



4) Adding Your File:
Within the main page, find the link named "Add a Sitemap"... You will have multiple options from here. For this tutorial, we are only adding "Add General Web Sitemap".



After you make your selection, simply add the file name to your index-sitemap or regular sitemap and click "Add General Web Sitemap".

5) Waiting for Results:
Once complete, the process of calling your information may take several hours. Go back from time to time, going through the same, step by step process of 1, 2 and 3 to locate the status of your file.

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Yahoo! Site Explorer Submission:

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Step 1) Yahoo! Site Explorer:
http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Here you will enter your web site address. After which you will then be prompted to log into your yahoo! account ID. If you do not have one, now is the time to create one.



2) Site Validation:
Again, you will be required to enter a web site address and validate it. After entering your site, click "EXPLORE", which is located beside the link. From the LEFT MENU, click on "Authentication", which is found under your site address. Choose the method you want to authenticate with and verify your site.



3) Add Feeds:
Within 24 hours of being authenticated by Yahoo!, log back into your account, click on your web site, and under the LEFT MENU, click on "FEEDS".

Here you can add the address of your sitemaps file. Wait 12-24 hours for the system to populate the information and go from there.

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Microsoft Live Submission:

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MSN Live Search has two different ways to submit your sitemaps to their system.

1) Pinging:
http://webmaster.live.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=[your sitemap web address]

2) MSN Live Webmaster Center:
http://webmaster.live.com/

Create a MSN Live account if you don't already have one.

3) Submit Your Site & Validate It:

Once logged in, click on "Add Site" within the middle page. You will be asked to enter this information:

Web address: www.yoursite23904.net
Sitemap address: www.yoursite23904.net/sitemap.xml

4) Verification:
How should we verify that you manage this site? (We'll explain this later.)
A) Look for an XML file I'll add to the site.
B) Look for a META tag I'll add to the home page file.

Go through the validation process and that's it, wait for your results to come in!

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In Conclusion:

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There you have it! You've successfully submitted your sitemaps to Google, Yahoo! and MSN. From there, you'll want to keep track of any errors that may occur and how many pages they actually index within their search results. This now takes us to my next and final tutorial - "Google Sitemaps (Pt5) Understand Errors Within Your Sitemaps".

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux, president of the Adcidia network, has over 16 years of experience online while maintaining a network of over 35 web sites. For more tips like these, please visit:

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