Now Test Your Sitemaps Before Submitting Them To Google

Jan 26, 2012 at 1:33pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has quietly added a feature to Google Webmaster Tools that allows you to test your sitemap files prior to submitting them to Google.

Google’s Pierre Far confirmed that this is indeed a brand new feature built to help webmasters debug their sitemap files prior to submitting them. One of the most common complaints about Google Sitemap files is that Webmaster would create them but not be able to know right away if they were valid. Now, Webmasters can create the sitemaps and test them in Google Webmaster Tools prior to submitting them to Google.

To test the sitemap files, simply login to Google Webmaster Tools, click on Site Configuration and then on Sitemaps. At the top right, there is an “Add/Test Sitemap” button.

After you enter the URL, click submit and Google will begin testing the sitemap file immediately.

When the test is complete, you can click a button to go see the test results.

I am told Google also added a few more features to Webmaster Tools, some we covered already, such as changing the average position calculation and new download options.

Google has now added a blog post on all these new items.

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

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2 Comments on Now Test Your Sitemaps Before Submitting Them To Google

H.Q., January 26th, 2012 at 2:44 pm ET:

Hope this will help new webmasters who have little technical knowledge.

T.R., January 27th, 2012 at 10:50 am ET:

prior to this refresh of the sitemaps UI, I had been tracking the percentage of pages indexed. i have screenshots across 5mos that show as much as 96% of my sitemap links being indexed.

after the the UI refresh, I’m seeing much lower index rate.yesterday it was down to 71% and this morning its at 51% (!)

anyone else seeing their index rate drop like a rock since this UI refresh? if so, have you found an explanation anywhere? thanks in advance.