How to add a sitemap in Google Search Console
Pick your property, open Sitemaps under Indexing, enter the full sitemap address and click Submit. About 1 minute. You need the Owner or Full user permission on the property, and a sitemap that loads in a browser.
This is for whoever looks after a website's Google Search Console property and wants Google to know about its sitemap. You pick the property, open Sitemaps under Indexing, enter the full sitemap address and click Submit, and you need Owner or Full user permission to do it.
Before you start
You need the Owner or Full user permission on the property. Restricted users are refused.
- Time
- About 1 minute
- Account
- pinafly.com's own Search Console domain property
| Role | What it can do here |
|---|---|
| Owner | Can submit a sitemap. |
| Full user | Can submit a sitemap. Seen working on 7 Oct 2026, when a Full user account submitted pinafly.com's sitemap and Search Console said it was submitted. |
| Restricted user | Cannot submit a sitemap. Seen refused on 7 Oct 2026 with an HTTP 403, user does not have sufficient permission, when a Restricted user tried to submit one through the Search Console API. |
-
1
Open Search Console and pick the property
Go to Search Console and choose your property in the selector at the top left of the left menu. A domain property is shown as just the domain, for example example.com.
You should see: Your property's name at the top of the left menu.
-
2
Open Sitemaps
In the left menu, under Indexing, click Sitemaps.
You should see: The Sitemaps page, with an Add a new sitemap card and a Submitted sitemaps table.
-
3
Enter the sitemap address
In the card Add a new sitemap, click Enter sitemap URL and type the full address, for example https://example.com/sitemap.xml. Open that address in a browser first to be sure it loads as XML.
You should see: The full address in the field, and the SUBMIT button no longer greyed out.
-
4
Click Submit
Click SUBMIT. The sitemap appears in the Submitted sitemaps table with the date you sent it.
You should see: A new row in the Submitted sitemaps table with today's date under Submitted.
-
5
Read the Status column
The table shows Sitemap, Type, Submitted, Last read, Status, Discovered pages and Discovered videos. Last read stays empty until Google has fetched the file. Check back after a day, not after a minute.
You should see: A Status for your row. Right after submitting, Last read is empty.
If it does not work
Status says Couldn't fetch. Open the sitemap address in a browser. It must load without a login and without a redirect to a sign-in page, and it must be XML. If it does, resubmit it and check again after a day. (To be confirmed against what Google does for pinafly.com's own sitemap before this guide is published.)
The Submit button is greyed out or the field refuses the address. Type the full address starting with https://, on the same site as the property you picked.
You are refused when you submit. A Restricted user cannot submit sitemaps. Ask an Owner or Full user on the property to submit it, or to raise your permission.
Questions
Where is the sitemap option in Search Console?
In the left menu, under Indexing, click Sitemaps. The Add a new sitemap card is at the top of that page.
Do I enter the full sitemap address?
Yes. Type the full address, for example https://example.com/sitemap.xml. We walked it with the full address on a domain property.
Who can submit a sitemap?
An Owner or a Full user. A Restricted user is refused, so ask an Owner or Full user to submit it, or to raise your permission.
Why is Last read empty after I submit?
Last read stays empty until Google has fetched the file. Give it a day before you worry rather than checking after a minute.
Can I submit more than one sitemap?
The Submitted sitemaps table lists each sitemap on its own row, so yes, add each address the same way.
How we checked
Verified 11 Oct 2026 against the live interface on pinafly.com's own Search Console domain property.
What we observed
- The Sitemaps page has an Add a new sitemap card with an Enter sitemap URL field and a SUBMIT button, and a Submitted sitemaps table with the columns Sitemap, Type, Submitted, Last read, Status, Discovered pages and Discovered videos.
- A Restricted user was refused with an HTTP 403 when submitting a sitemap through the Search Console API on 7 Oct 2026, and the same call succeeded once the account was a Full user.
- Our own sitemap read Couldn't fetch in the Status column a few hours after we submitted it, even though the address returned 200 and valid XML to a Googlebot user agent when we fetched it ourselves.
Related guides
Ready to do it?
Run these 5 steps on your own Google Search Console page. Each step shows in a panel on the page, Next when you are ready.