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August 08, 2005
We are stoked that so many of you are trying out Sitemaps while it's in beta. When we read on the
Sitemaps Google Group
that you'd like an easy way to find out about new features and where we're headed with this thing,
we realized we could put our very own Blogger to good use.
And since the Sitemaps team is far-flung in
Mountain View,
Kirkland,
and Zurich, this will be a good
way to keep everyone posted about new features and developments. Subscribe to our feed to keep up
with the latest. We'll also e-mail each blog post to the Sitemaps Google Group, so if you get your
news from there, you won't miss out on a thing.
In addition to telling you about new features here, we'll also do our best to address some of the
frequently asked questions from the Google Group.
Lately, some of you have wondered if submitting a Sitemap could actually reduce the number of your
site pages we have indexed.
No, submitting a Sitemap will not reduce the number of indexed pages for your site.
As we note in our
information for Webmasters,
each time we update our database of webpages, our index shifts: we find new sites, we lose some
sites, and sites' rankings change. If your site was dropped from Google and you haven't made major
changes to it, we'll likely pick it up again soon. If your site's
ranking changes, ensure you are following
our guidelines.
When you submit your Sitemap, you help us learn more about the contents of your site.
Participation in this program will not affect your pages' rankings or cause your pages to be
removed from our index.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis blog serves as a platform for the Sitemaps team to announce new features and developments.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSubmitting a Sitemap will not reduce the number of indexed pages, it helps Google understand your site's content better.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSitemaps team members are located in Mountain View, Kirkland, and Zurich.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe blog will also address FAQs from the Sitemaps Google Group.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSome of the information on this blog post may be outdated.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["The blog post announces the launch of a communication channel for the Sitemaps team, which will share updates on new features and address frequently asked questions from the Sitemaps Google Group. The team will post on the blog and also email each post to the Google Group. A key clarification is that submitting a Sitemap will not reduce the number of a site's indexed pages, nor will it negatively affect page rankings; it aids in understanding site content.\n"],null,["# Just getting started...\n\n| It's been a while since we published this blog post. Some of the information may be outdated (for example, some images may be missing, and some links may not work anymore).\n\nAugust 08, 2005\n\n\nWe are stoked that so many of you are trying out Sitemaps while it's in beta. When we read on the\n[Sitemaps Google Group](https://groups-beta.google.com/group/google-sitemaps)\nthat you'd like an easy way to find out about new features and where we're headed with this thing,\nwe realized we could put our very own Blogger to good use.\n\n\nAnd since the Sitemaps team is far-flung in\n[Mountain View](https://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA+94043),\n[Kirkland](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=720+4th+ave+kirkland,+wa&spn=0.018995,0.045417&hl=en),\nand [Zurich](https://www.google.ch/jobs/), this will be a good\nway to keep everyone posted about new features and developments. Subscribe to our feed to keep up\nwith the latest. We'll also e-mail each blog post to the Sitemaps Google Group, so if you get your\nnews from there, you won't miss out on a thing.\n\n\nIn addition to telling you about new features here, we'll also do our best to address some of the\nfrequently asked questions from the Google Group.\n\n\nLately, some of you have wondered if submitting a Sitemap could actually reduce the number of your\nsite pages we have indexed.\n\nNo, submitting a Sitemap will not reduce the number of indexed pages for your site.\n\n\nAs we note in our\n[information for Webmasters](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7474347),\neach time we update our database of webpages, our index shifts: we find new sites, we lose some\nsites, and sites' rankings change. If your site was dropped from Google and you haven't made major\nchanges to it, we'll likely pick it up again soon. If your site's\n[ranking changes](/search/docs/fundamentals/get-on-google), ensure you are following\nour [guidelines](/search/docs/essentials).\n\n\nWhen you submit your Sitemap, you help us learn more about the contents of your site.\nParticipation in this program will not affect your pages' rankings or cause your pages to be\nremoved from our index.\n\nPosted by [Vanessa Fox](https://www.vanessafox.com/)"]]
