How to Get Your Blog Noticed by Google: The Essential Guide to Sitemaps for New Bloggers

When you’re starting out as a new blogger, the excitement of creating and sharing your content can be overwhelming. You’ve poured hours into writing engaging posts, and perhaps you’ve even seen some success on platforms like Pinterest.

But then, you notice something troubling—your blog isn’t getting any traction in Google’s search results. Despite all your efforts, your organic traffic from search engines seems nonexistent. Why?

Here’s the surprising truth that most new bloggers learn the hard way: You actually have to tell Google that your website exists.

Why Google Doesn’t Automatically Find Your Blog

That’s right! When I first started blogging, I had no idea that simply publishing content wasn’t enough for Google to find it. For weeks, I was baffled as to why my posts weren’t showing up in search results, even though they were performing well on social platforms.

As it turns out, unless you take specific steps to notify Google and optimize your blog, your content might be invisible to search engines. And if you’ve made common mistakes like changing permalinks in your first month, you’re probably doing more harm than good.

But don’t worry—getting your blog noticed by Google is easier than you think. In this guide, we’ll cover everything from submitting your blog to Google to understanding and managing your sitemap.

Whether you’re a brand-new blogger or someone looking to improve your SEO strategy, this comprehensive 5 step guide will help you get your blog seen by search engines.

5 Steps to Getting Your Blog Noticed by Google

Step 1: Tell Google About Your Website

Why Submitting Your Blog to Google Matters

When you create new content, it’s easy to assume that Google will automatically find and index your site. However, the reality is that Google needs to be notified that your blog exists. Without submitting your site to Google, your blog will have little to no chance of appearing in search results.

This is a common mistake many new bloggers make, often leaving their valuable content hidden from potential readers.

The good news is that Google offers a free tool called Google Search Console that makes it easy to submit your blog and monitor its performance in search results.

How to Submit Your Blog to Google

Here’s a step-by-step guide to submitting your blog to Google Search Console:

• Sign Up for Google Search Console: If you haven’t already, go to Google Search Console and sign up using your Google account.
• Add Your Website: Once logged in, click “Add Property” and enter your blog’s URL. Google will prompt you to verify ownership of your site, which can be done by uploading an HTML file to your site, adding an HTML tag, or verifying through your domain name provider.
• Submit Your Sitemap: After verifying ownership, you’ll need to submit a sitemap (more on that in the next section). This will help Google understand your site’s structure and index it properly.
• Check Your Index Status: Google Search Console allows you to check which pages of your blog are indexed. This is essential for ensuring that all your content is visible to search engines.

A Note About Permalinks

A common mistake new bloggers make is changing their permalinks—the permanent URLs of their blog posts—after publishing content. Changing your permalink after your blog has been live can cause SEO issues.

If you’ve already done this, it’s critical to set up a 301 redirect to ensure that both users and search engines are directed to the correct page. Without it, Google may struggle to index your updated content, and users could end up on broken links.

Step 2: Understanding and Submitting a Sitemap

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages of your website that you want search engines to index. It’s like a blueprint for your site, helping Google understand its structure and find your content. A well-structured sitemap makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your blog.

Most sitemaps are in XML format, which is specifically designed for search engines. This format ensures that Google and other search engines can easily read and process the content of your blog.

Why is a Sitemap Important?

Submitting a sitemap to Google is especially important for new bloggers who are just starting out. Without a sitemap, Google may not find all your pages, particularly if your site has:

• A large number of pages: The more pages you have, the harder it is for Google to crawl them all without guidance.
• Rich media content: If you have a lot of images, videos, or other media, a sitemap ensures that these assets are indexed correctly.
• Archived content: Older posts that may not be easily accessible through your site’s navigation are more likely to be missed by search engines.
• New sites with limited external links: When other sites aren’t linking to yours yet, Google relies on your sitemap to discover and index your content.

How to Create and Submit a Sitemap

Creating and submitting a sitemap is a simple process, especially if you use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress. Here’s how you can do it:

• Using a WordPress Plugin: If you’re using WordPress, plugins like Yoast SEO or Google XML Sitemaps can automatically generate and update your sitemap for you. This is the easiest and most efficient way to manage your sitemap.
• Manually Creating a Sitemap: If you’re not using WordPress, you can use tools like XML-sitemaps.com to generate a sitemap. Simply enter your site’s URL, and it will create an XML sitemap that you can upload to your server.
• Submitting Your Sitemap to Google: After creating your sitemap, go back to Google Search Console and navigate to the “Sitemaps” section. Enter the URL of your sitemap (usually something like https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) and hit “Submit.”

Maintaining Your Sitemap: Do You Ever Have to Redo It?

Once your sitemap is submitted, you might wonder if you need to redo it periodically. Here are some situations where you might need to update or resubmit your sitemap:

• New Content: If you’re adding new posts regularly, your sitemap should automatically update (especially if you’re using a plugin). However, it’s a good idea to resubmit it every few months to ensure Google indexes all your latest content.
• Site Redesign or Structural Changes: If you significantly change your site’s structure—such as redesigning it or adding new categories—you’ll need to generate and submit a new sitemap.
• Errors or Issues: Google Search Console will notify you if there are problems with your sitemap, such as pages that are blocked or missing. Regularly checking for these alerts will help you maintain a healthy site.

Step 3: Troubleshooting Sitemap Issues

Even after setting up and submitting your sitemap, you might encounter issues. Here are some common problems and how to resolve them:

Pages Not Indexed

If you notice that some of your pages aren’t showing up in Google’s search results, the first step is to check if they’re included in your sitemap. You can do this by viewing the sitemap directly or using Google Search Console’s “Coverage” report to see which pages have been indexed.

Errors in Google Search Console

Google Search Console provides detailed feedback on your sitemap and any issues it encounters while crawling your site. Common errors include:

• 404 Errors: These occur when Google tries to crawl a page that no longer exists. If you’ve changed a permalink, ensure there’s a proper 301 redirect in place.
• Blocked by Robots.txt: Your robots.txt file might be blocking certain pages from being crawled. Check this file to ensure that only the pages you want hidden from search engines are excluded.
• Noindex Tags: Some pages might have a noindex tag, which tells Google not to index them. This is useful for pages you want to keep private, but make sure it’s not applied to important posts.

Sitemap Size Limits

If your blog grows significantly, your sitemap might exceed Google’s limits (50,000 URLs or 50MB in size). In this case, you’ll need to create multiple sitemaps and link them together using a sitemap index file.

Step 4: Optimizing Your Content for Better Indexing

Submitting your blog to Google and maintaining a sitemap are crucial steps, but they won’t be as effective without well-optimized content. Here are some tips to ensure your blog posts are SEO-friendly and easy for search engines to index:

Use Descriptive URLs

Your blog post’s URL should be short, descriptive, and include your target keyword. Avoid vague URLs like https://yourblog.com/post1; instead, use something more specific like https://yourblog.com/seo-tips-for-new-bloggers.

Write Compelling Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are short summaries of your blog posts that appear in search results. Make sure each post has a unique and engaging meta description that includes your main keyword.

Optimize Your Headers

Use headers (H1, H2, H3) to break up your content and include your primary keyword in at least one of these headers. This helps both readers and search engines understand the structure and main points of your post.

Internal Linking

Linking to other posts within your blog not only improves user experience but also helps search engines discover and crawl your content. Internal links signal to Google which posts are related and can improve your blog’s overall search visibility.

Regularly Update Your Content

Google prioritizes fresh content. Regularly updating your older posts with new information, updated statistics, or better readability can give them a boost in search rankings.

The Takeaway

Getting your blog noticed by Google takes more than just great content. You need to ensure that Google knows your blog exists, can easily navigate it, and understands what your content is about.

By submitting your site to Google Search Console, creating and maintaining a sitemap, and optimizing your content for search engines, you significantly improve your chances of ranking well in search results.

Remember, while social media platforms can drive short-term traffic, Google search traffic can provide consistent and long-lasting growth for your blog. Organic search traffic is a valuable resource, and it’s worth taking the time to build your SEO foundation early on.

That said, SEO isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing effort. As you continue to publish content, monitor your blog’s performance, and make adjustments as necessary, you’ll slowly but surely see the results of your hard work.

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As always, I’d love to hear from you – If you’re a new blogger let us know how submitting your sitemap went for you in the comments below!