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I have a old sitemap dated 2012 that I submitted in Google Webmaster Tools. I want to resubmit a modified sitemap, but I am worried that my current ranking might suffer.

Does anyone have a way that I can resubmit and make sure my site's current rankings don't drop?

Stephen Ostermiller
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bb ching
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1 Answers1

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(Re)submitting a sitemap does not affect rankings. All the sitemap does is tell search engines where to find your content. So changing your sitemap's contents will not cause a rankings drop. (Many sitemaps are dynamic and change daily if not hourly or minute-to-minute).

All you need to do is update your sitemap. No need to re-submit it or anything. It is automatically recrawled periodically by the search engines.

John Conde
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  • Do i delete the current sitemap and replaced it with the updated one? – bb ching Aug 28 '14 at 14:46
  • @bbching Yes. Update or replace the sitemap that exists. You do not actually have to re-submit any sitemap. Google and Bing will keep checking your sitemap for updates. – closetnoc Aug 28 '14 at 15:02
  • If your new sitemap has a new URL, then you will have to resubmit it. Generally you would just replace your old sitemap and re-use the same URL. – Stephen Ostermiller Aug 28 '14 at 15:04