Before submitting your sitemap to Google, you need to first complete every step of the launch checklist, especially the last step to Launch your website.
- If don't have one already, setup a Google account. If you use Gmail, Adwords, Analytics or any other Google service, you can use this account.
- Sign into Google Webmaster Tools with your Google Account
- Click "Add a site" and type the URL of the site you want to add. Make sure you type the entire URL, such as http://www.example.com/
Click Continue
- The Verify site ownership page opens. Click Alternate methods.
- Select the verification method "Add a Meta tag to your site's home page" from the drop menu
- Copy the "Meta tag code" supplied by Google - which usually looks something like <meta name="google-site-verification" content="vZnPHNMlJtxMqSBmkXxThDBhHNA35HUwG-IJ5GsFdBs" />
- Open your website admin and navigate to the "Preferences tab" Open the "Content" drop down and paste the "Meta tag code" into the "Extra HTML tags for document head tag (eg meta tags)" field
- Click Save
- Go back to Google Webmaster tools and select the "Verify" button
- You will then be presented with your Webmaster tools dashboard. Under the "Sitemaps" section, select the "Submit a Sitemap" link and on the preceding page select the "Submit a Site map" button
- In the form field, directly after your domain name, type "sitemap.xml". This is the address of the dynamic Sitemap automatically generated by your Zeald website manager software and updated every time you make a change on your website.
For example, if your website is www.meatcuisine.co.nz then this address should read http://www.meatcuisine.co.nz/sitemap.xml
- Then click "Submit Sitemap" button
If you get an error in Webmaster tools saying something like 'URL restricted by robots.txt', this indicates that your website is not using a live domain name, but is still showing .zes.zeald.com at the end of it. (Even if you can access the website with your new domain name) This might be because the domain name has not propagated fully or correctly. You might have to leave it for 24hrs to allow the propagation process to complete fully.