XML Sitemaps for Accounting Websites: Create and Submit

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website in a format that search engines can read. It tells Google and Bing which pages exist on your site, when they were last updated, and how they relate to each other. Without a sitemap, search engines must discover your pages by following links, which is slower and can miss pages that are not well-linked internally.

For an accounting firm website with more than 20 pages, a sitemap is a meaningful practical tool. It does not directly improve your rankings, but it ensures Google discovers and considers all your content, particularly new pages you publish. On a site with 50 or more pages, the difference between having and not having an accurate sitemap can mean certain pages are indexed weeks faster, or in some cases, never missed.

What an XML sitemap does and does not do

A common misconception is that submitting a sitemap guarantees your pages will be indexed. It does not. A sitemap is a request, not a command. Google decides independently whether to index each page based on its assessment of the content quality, the page's technical health, and the authority of your site.

What a sitemap does is ensure Google is aware your pages exist. This is particularly useful for:

• New pages you have recently published and want indexed promptly
• Pages that are not linked from anywhere else on your site (though having pages with no internal links is a problem you should also address separately)
• Pages deep in your site architecture that are many clicks from the homepage
• Pages that are updated regularly, such as a rates page for the current tax year

Google has confirmed that XML sitemaps help with faster page discovery on sites with more than 50 pages. For a growing accounting website publishing regular guides, tax updates, or sector-specific content, a sitemap is a basic hygiene measure.

What should and should not be in your sitemap

The sitemap's usefulness depends on including the right pages and excluding the wrong ones.

Include:

• All public-facing service pages
• All published blog posts, guides, and articles
• Your homepage, about page, and contact page
• Any pillar or hub pages that organise your topic areas
• Location pages if you target multiple office locations

Exclude:

• Pages with a noindex meta tag — including a noindex page in your sitemap sends contradictory signals
• Pages that return 404 errors or other error status codes
• Duplicate or near-duplicate pages, including paginated search result pages, filtered category pages, and tag archive pages on WordPress sites
• Admin, login, or internal tool pages
• Pages with canonical tags pointing to a different URL — include the canonical URL instead
• Redirect chains — include only the final destination URL

An inaccurate sitemap can be counterproductive. If your sitemap includes noindex pages, redirect chains, or 404 errors, it can confuse crawlers and reduce the trust Google places in your sitemap as a whole.

How to check if you already have a sitemap

Many CMS platforms generate sitemaps automatically. Before creating one, check whether yours already exists by visiting the following URLs (replace yourdomain.co.uk with your actual domain):

• yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap.xml
• yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml
• yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap-index.xml

If any of these returns a page of XML code listing your URLs rather than a "Not Found" error, you already have a sitemap. Note the URL and move on to the submission steps below.

In WordPress with the Yoast SEO plugin: your sitemap is at yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml by default. In WordPress with RankMath: it is at yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml. In Squarespace: go to Settings, Advanced, then Code Injection — the sitemap URL is yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap.xml. In Wix: Wix generates a sitemap automatically, accessible at yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap.xml.

How to create a sitemap if you do not have one

CMS-based solution (WordPress): Install Yoast SEO or RankMath (both have free versions). Both plugins generate and maintain your sitemap automatically, updating it whenever you publish, update, or delete content. They also let you control which post types and taxonomies are included. For most accounting WordPress sites, this is the recommended approach because the sitemap stays current without manual maintenance.

For custom-built or less common CMS platforms: Use the free XML Sitemaps Generator at xml-sitemaps.com. Enter your domain, set the change frequency and priority settings as appropriate (weekly is a sensible default for most pages), and run the generator. It crawls your site and generates an XML sitemap file you can download and upload to your web server's root directory (the same folder that contains your homepage file).

Note that the XML Sitemaps Generator's free plan supports up to 500 pages per sitemap. For larger sites, ask your developer to generate the sitemap programmatically.

For Astro, Next.js, or other static site generators: Most frameworks have sitemap plugins or built-in sitemap generation. Your developer will be able to implement this in a short session if it is not already in place.

How to submit your sitemap to Google

Submitting your sitemap to Google is done through Google Search Console. If you have not yet set up Search Console, this is a prerequisite — see the article on setting up Google Search Console for accounting firms.

Once you have access to Search Console:

1. In the left-hand menu, click "Sitemaps."
2. In the "Add a new sitemap" field, enter the path to your sitemap. If your sitemap is at https://yourfirm.co.uk/sitemap.xml, enter sitemap.xml in the field (the domain is already shown).
3. Click "Submit."

Google will attempt to fetch and read your sitemap. Within a few hours, you will see one of two statuses:

• Success: Google fetched the sitemap and found the listed URLs. The number of submitted URLs and the number Google chose to index (which may be lower) are displayed.
• Couldn't fetch: Google could not access the sitemap file. This usually means the URL is incorrect, the file has a permissions problem, or your server is blocking Googlebot.

If the submission fails, double-check the sitemap URL by opening it in your browser. If it displays XML content correctly in your browser, the URL is correct. If the file is inaccessible, contact your developer to check server permissions.

How to submit your sitemap to Bing

Bing powers both Bing search and Microsoft 365's Copilot web searches, making it a secondary but non-trivial search engine for UK businesses. Bing Webmaster Tools is separate from Google Search Console and requires its own account.

To submit to Bing:

1. Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft account.
2. Add your site by entering your sitemap URL directly on the first screen, or verify your site first and then navigate to Sitemaps in the left menu.
3. Enter your sitemap URL and click Submit.

Bing also allows you to notify it of sitemap updates via a ping URL, which Yoast SEO handles automatically. The Bing Webmaster Tools interface provides its own coverage, crawl, and search query data, which is worth reviewing periodically.

Keeping your sitemap updated

For CMS-based sites with automatic sitemap generation (WordPress with Yoast or RankMath, Squarespace, Wix), the sitemap updates itself when you publish or modify content. No manual action is required after the initial setup.

For manually generated sitemaps, you need to regenerate and re-upload the file whenever you add or remove pages. If you add pages regularly, set a monthly reminder to regenerate the sitemap and check that the submitted version in Search Console matches your current site structure.

After adding significant new content, you can prompt Google to re-crawl your sitemap by navigating to the Sitemaps section in Search Console and clicking "Resubmit." This notifies Google that your sitemap has been updated and should be re-fetched.

One common oversight: if you have multiple sitemaps (for example, a separate sitemap for blog posts and another for service pages), create a sitemap index file that references all of them. Submit only the sitemap index to Search Console, and it will process all individual sitemaps automatically.

Verifying your sitemap is working

Two weeks after submission, return to the Sitemaps section in Search Console and compare the "Submitted" and "Indexed" counts. A significant gap between submitted and indexed URLs indicates that Google is finding and fetching your pages but choosing not to index some of them. Common reasons include thin content, duplicate content, or pages with technical problems identified in the Coverage report.

If the indexed count is close to the submitted count, your sitemap is functioning correctly and Google is discovering your content.

Key takeaways

• An XML sitemap lists your pages for search engines; it does not guarantee indexation but significantly accelerates page discovery, particularly on sites with more than 50 pages.
• WordPress sites with Yoast SEO or RankMath generate and maintain sitemaps automatically; custom sites may need a plugin or manual generation.
• Check whether you already have a sitemap by visiting yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap.xml before creating one.
• Exclude noindex pages, 404 errors, redirect chains, and duplicate/near-duplicate pages from your sitemap to maintain its quality.
• Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and separately to Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Check the submitted versus indexed count in Search Console two weeks after submission to verify the sitemap is working correctly.

Frequently asked questions

My sitemap shows 80 submitted URLs but only 60 indexed. Where are the other 20?

Google chose not to index 20 of your pages based on its own quality assessment. Common reasons include: thin or low-value content, pages that are near-duplicates of other pages on your site, pages with slow load times, or pages that Google considers canonically represented by a different URL. Check the Coverage report in Search Console for details on specific excluded pages.

How often should I update my sitemap?

If you use an automatic sitemap generator (Yoast, RankMath, or your CMS's built-in tool), it updates itself. For manually generated sitemaps, update whenever you add, remove, or significantly restructure pages. At a minimum, regenerate and resubmit quarterly.

Do I need a separate sitemap for images or videos on my site?

Google supports separate image and video sitemaps, which can help media content appear in image or video search results. For most accounting firm websites, this is not a priority. If you publish a significant number of charts, infographics, or video content as part of your content marketing, an image or video sitemap is worth adding. Your developer or Yoast SEO can generate these.

My sitemap includes pagination pages like ?page=2. Should I remove them?

Yes. Paginated archive pages, filtered result pages, and tag archives that show the same content in different combinations should be excluded from your sitemap. In Yoast SEO, you can control which post types and taxonomies are included in the sitemap. Remove any that generate duplicate or low-value content.

Google Search Console says my sitemap "couldn't be fetched." What do I do?

First, open the sitemap URL in your browser and confirm it displays XML content. If it shows a 404 error, the file does not exist at that path. If it shows a 403 Forbidden error, your server is blocking access. If it displays correctly in your browser but Search Console cannot fetch it, check whether your robots.txt file blocks Googlebot from accessing the sitemap path, and verify there are no firewall rules on your hosting that might block Google's crawlers.