0

I have submitted around 10 sitemaps in search console. Each sitemap pertains to a different section of the site covering over 100 urls each. The reason for so many sitemaps is just easy administration and debugging.

All the sitemaps have been processed and most of the URLs have been indexed already. Now I have a requirement to reorganize sitemaps, deleting few, merging few, etc. Is it ok to delete the existing sitemaps? Will it have any effect on already indexed pages?

1
  • 1
    Is it ok to delete the existing sitemaps? Yes. Will it have any effect on already indexed pages? No.
    – closetnoc
    Jul 19, 2018 at 4:42

1 Answer 1

4

There will be no problem deleting the sitemaps and indexed pages will not be affected. Sitemaps only suggest searches what to index and how to do that.

Although most web crawlers can explore and discover all the files on your site, a sitemap helps the crawler and can also provide metadata, such as how often the information on the page changes (suggesting how often it should be crawled), and details about content that is difficult for a search engine to parse, such as video or image file descriptions

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.