A sitemap gives search engines information about a website’s pages and other files. Google describes it as a way to help discovery and crawling, particularly on larger or more complex sites. Having an address in the sitemap does not guarantee that Google will crawl or index it. Source: Google Search Central: sitemaps

After publishing travel content

For a new destination guide, check that the published address appears in the sitemap and is linked from a relevant part of the website. These are useful checks for different routes by which someone or a search engine can find the page.

Keep a simple publication record containing the page address, publication date and where it is linked. If a page later becomes difficult to find, that record gives you a clear starting point for investigation.

A useful distinction

A sitemap is not the same as your visible website menu. It also does not tell you whether a page has earned a search impression. Use the appropriate search reporting tool to investigate indexing and performance rather than treating a successful sitemap update as an SEO result. Source: Google Search Central: sitemaps

Written and updated by Travelgenix. Sources checked on 16 October 2026. Worked examples and checklists are editorial illustrations and recommendations, not customer results.