Search Console Sitemaps report
The Search Console Sitemaps report,
as documented
What Google documents about the Search Console Sitemaps report, in its own words. Verified from Google's page on 2026-10-08.
Google's Sitemaps report lets you tell Google about sitemaps and see how Google handled them. This page lists what Google's help page says about submitting sitemaps, reading statuses and the report's limits, with the exact wording from Google.
What Google says
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | “Use the Sitemaps report to tell Google about any new sitemaps for your property, to see your sitemap submission history, and to see any errors that Google encountered when parsing your submitted sitemaps.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| What a sitemap is | “A sitemap is a file on your site that tells Google which pages on your site we should know about.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Small sites | “about 500 pages or fewer on your site”Google says a small site that can be reached by following links from the homepage probably does not need a sitemap or this report. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Submitting | “You cannot actually upload a sitemap to Google.”Google says submitting means telling Google where to find the file on your site. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Permissions | “You must have owner permissions on a property to submit a sitemap using the Sitemaps report.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Redirects | “Redirects are not followed.”Google says this about the Sitemap URL value, which is the exact URL specified when the sitemap was submitted. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Success | “Success: The sitemap was fetched and read without any errors.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Could not fetch | “Couldn't fetch: Google couldn't fetch the sitemap.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Retries | “Google will retry for a few days, and then stop if the sitemap continues to be unavailable or has critical errors.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Scope of the report | “This report shows only sitemaps that were submitted using this report or the API.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Deleting | “Deleting a sitemap removes the sitemap from this report, but Google won't forget the sitemap or any URLs listed in it.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
| Row limit | “The report can show a maximum of 1,000 submitted requests.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-08 |
How to apply it
A checklist built only from the guidance in Google's page.
- Check first whether you need a sitemap, using the size and hosting guidance in Google's page.
- Post the sitemap on your site in an acceptable format, accessible to Googlebot and not behind a login.
- Submit its URL in the Sitemaps report with owner permissions, or list it in robots.txt instead.
- Read the status of the last request; open the sitemap row for details if it is not Success.
- Fix the problem and resubmit if a fetch failed, since Google eventually stops retrying.
- Remember that deleting a sitemap from the report does not make Google forget its URLs.
Questions
Do I need the Sitemaps report?
Google says a small site of about 500 pages or fewer that can be reached by links from the homepage probably does not need a sitemap or the report, and that hosting services such as Squarespace or Wix probably manage the sitemap for you.
Can I upload a sitemap to Google?
No. Google says submitting a sitemap means telling Google where to find the file on your site.
Does deleting a sitemap make Google forget its URLs?
No. Google says it removes the sitemap from the report but Google will not forget the sitemap or any URLs listed in it.
Does the report show every sitemap Google knows?
No. Google says it shows only sitemaps submitted using the report or the API, not ones discovered through robots.txt.
What happens if a sitemap fetch keeps failing?
Google says it will retry for a few days and then stop if the sitemap continues to be unavailable or has critical errors.
How current is this page?
Every quote was read from Google's help page on 2026-10-08. No Last updated date appeared in the page text fetched, so no document date is given here. Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.
Sources
- Sitemaps report (Google), read on 2026-10-08
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