Advertisement
Common sitemap locations: /sitemap.xml  ·  /sitemap_index.xml  ·  /wp-sitemap.xml  ·  Check your robots.txt for the exact URL
🌐
Google Search Console
Ping deprecated Jan 2024. Submit via Search Console or add sitemap to robots.txt.
📋 Manual step
🔷
Bing / Microsoft
Ping endpoint removed June 2023 (HTTP 410). Use IndexNow for Bing — it's instant and covers all participating engines.
⏳ Queued
🦆
DuckDuckGo
Powered by Bing's web index. Bing submission above covers DuckDuckGo automatically.
✓ Covered by Bing
🔴
Yandex
The only major search engine that still accepts sitemap.xml pings. Best for sites targeting Russian-speaking users.
⏳ Queued
🐼
Baidu (China)
China's #1 search engine requires account-based submission via Baidu Webmaster Tools.
📋 Manual step
🟣
Yahoo Search
Yahoo uses Bing for organic results since 2010. Bing submission covers Yahoo.
✓ Covered by Bing
⚠️
Only Yandex currently accepts direct sitemap.xml ping submissions. Google removed their ping endpoint in January 2024. Bing removed theirs in June 2023. For all other search engines, follow the instructions below — or use IndexNow for real-time indexing.

Use Our IndexNow Submitter — Real-Time Indexing, No Accounts Needed

Recommended

IndexNow notifies participating search engines the moment a page is published or updated — no accounts, no waiting for the next crawl cycle. Far more effective than a sitemap ping for getting new content indexed fast.

Search engines that accept IndexNow:

⚡ Try Our IndexNow Submitter →

📋 How to Submit Your Sitemap — By Search Engine

🌐 Google Search Console Ping deprecated Jan 2024

Google no longer accepts public ping requests. Submit through Google Search Console or add the sitemap to your robots.txt.

  1. Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in.
  2. Add your property and verify ownership (HTML meta tag, DNS TXT record, or Google Analytics).
  3. In the left sidebar go to Indexing → Sitemaps.
  4. Paste your sitemap URL and click Submit.
Tip: Adding Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to robots.txt lets Google discover your sitemap automatically on every crawl — no manual resubmission needed.
🔷 Bing / Microsoft (+ Yahoo + DuckDuckGo) Ping deprecated Jun 2023

Bing retired their sitemap ping endpoint in June 2023. Use Bing Webmaster Tools for manual submission or our IndexNow Submitter for real-time updates (preferred).

  1. Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft account.
  2. Add your site and verify ownership via XML file, meta tag, or CNAME record.
  3. In the left menu go to Sitemaps and click Submit sitemap.
  4. Paste your sitemap URL and submit. Covers Yahoo and DuckDuckGo automatically.
Better option: Use our IndexNow Submitter — notifies Bing in real-time when pages are published or updated, covers Yahoo and DuckDuckGo simultaneously.
🔴 Yandex ✓ Ping supported

Yandex is the only major search engine that still accepts direct sitemap.xml ping requests. Primarily useful for sites targeting Russian-speaking audiences (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.).

The tool above pings Yandex automatically. You can also submit or manage sitemaps manually via Yandex Webmaster Tools. Yandex also accepts IndexNow for real-time page notifications.

  1. Go to webmaster.yandex.com and sign in with a Yandex account.
  2. Add your site and verify ownership via TXT record or HTML file.
  3. Go to Indexing → Sitemap files and enter your sitemap URL.
🐼 Baidu (China) Account required

Baidu holds ~65% search market share in mainland China. Only relevant if your target audience is in China. Requires a Chinese phone number to register an account.

  1. Go to ziyuan.baidu.com and create or sign in to an account.
  2. Add your site and complete ownership verification.
  3. Navigate to 链接提交 (Link Submission) → Sitemap and paste your sitemap URL.
🇨🇿 Seznam (Czech Republic) IndexNow supported

Seznam is the leading search engine in the Czech Republic. No separate sitemap ping — use our IndexNow Submitter to notify Seznam in real-time, or submit your site via seznam.cz/pridej-stranku.

🤖

robots.txt — What to Include for Each Search Engine

Your robots.txt file lives at https://yoursite.com/robots.txt. The Sitemap: directive is the most important addition — every major crawler reads it automatically and no resubmission is ever needed.

Universal — works for all search engines

Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /admin/

Per-engine specific directives

🌐 Google (Googlebot)

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /private/

Google ignores Crawl-delay. Use Search Console to adjust crawl rate if needed. Never block CSS or JS files.

🔷 Bing (bingbot)

User-agent: bingbot
Crawl-delay: 1
Disallow: /private/

Bing honors Crawl-delay (seconds). Set 1–5 for shared hosting. Covers Yahoo (uses Bing index) and DuckDuckGo's Bing-powered results.

🔴 Yandex (YandexBot)

User-agent: YandexBot
Crawl-delay: 2
Clean-param: utm_source&utm_medium
Disallow: /private/

Yandex supports Clean-param — list tracking parameters to strip so Yandex doesn't index duplicate URLs (e.g. ?utm_source=email).

🐼 Baidu (Baiduspider)

User-agent: Baiduspider
Crawl-delay: 2
Disallow: /private/

Baidu can crawl aggressively. A Crawl-delay of 2–5 seconds is recommended for most shared-hosting environments.

🦆 DuckDuckGo (DuckDuckBot)

User-agent: DuckDuckBot
Crawl-delay: 1
Disallow: /private/

DuckDuckGo uses Bing's index for web results but runs its own crawler. Blocking DuckDuckBot won't affect your Bing-sourced results in DDG.

💡 Validate before publishing: Check your robots.txt with Google's Robots Testing Tool and Bing's Robots Testing Tool before going live.

📋 Manual Steps Required

🌐

Google Search Console

Required
Why can't this be automated? Google removed their public ping endpoint in January 2024. Sitemap submission now requires a verified Search Console account.
1
Go to Google Search Console
search.google.com/search-console — sign in with your Google account.
2
Add and verify your property
If your site isn't listed yet, add it. Verify ownership via HTML meta tag, DNS record, HTML file, or Google Analytics.
3
Go to Sitemaps section
In the left sidebar, click Indexing → Sitemaps.
4
Enter your sitemap URL and submit
Paste your-sitemap-url and click Submit.
Bonus: Add sitemap to robots.txt
Add this line to your robots.txt file — Google will discover it automatically on every crawl:
Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
🐼

Baidu Webmaster Tools

China only

Only relevant if your target audience is in mainland China. Requires a Chinese phone number for account registration.

1
Visit ziyuan.baidu.com and register/sign in.
2
Add your site and complete ownership verification.
3
Go to 链接提交 (Link Submission)Sitemap and paste your sitemap URL.
💡

Sitemap Best Practices

  • Keep your sitemap under 50,000 URLs and under 50 MB (uncompressed). Use a sitemap index for larger sites.
  • Always include <lastmod> dates — they signal freshness to crawlers and can increase crawl frequency for updated pages.
  • Use canonical URLs only — never include URLs with noindex meta tags or URLs blocked by robots.txt.
  • Regenerate and resubmit (or let robots.txt auto-signal) whenever you add a large batch of new pages.
  • Dynamic sites should generate sitemaps programmatically (WordPress: Yoast / All in One SEO; Laravel: Spatie Sitemap; Next.js: next-sitemap).
  • Use absolute URLs including the protocol and domain (https://yourdomain.com/page, not /page).
Advertisement

How Search Engine Sitemap Submission Works

A sitemap is an XML file that lists every URL on your website — it's like a table of contents for search engine crawlers. Submitting it tells search engines exactly where to find your content instead of waiting for them to discover it by following links.

Which search engines accept automated pings?

  • Bing (+ Yahoo + DuckDuckGo) — Active. bing.com/ping?sitemap=URL returns HTTP 200 on success. Covers ~30% of English-language searches combined.
  • Yandex — Active. webmaster.yandex.com/ping?sitemap=URL works for sites targeting Russia and Eastern Europe.
  • Google — Deprecated January 2024. Must use Search Console. Adding Sitemap: to robots.txt is the most reliable ongoing signal.
  • Baidu — Requires account authentication. Use Baidu Webmaster Tools directly.

IndexNow — the future of indexing

IndexNow is an open protocol supported by Bing, Yandex, Seznam, and Naver that lets you notify search engines of content changes in real-time. Unlike a sitemap, IndexNow sends individual page URLs the moment they're published. Many CMS plugins (Yoast, Rank Math, Shopify) now support IndexNow natively.