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I created a valid Sitemap Index (/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap_index.xml) for a site as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>    
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap1.txt</loc>
<lastmod>2019-12-10T18:24:17+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap2.txt</loc>
<lastmod>2019-12-10T18:24:17+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap3.txt</loc>
<lastmod>2019-12-10T18:24:17+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
.
.
.
<sitemap>
<loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap536.txt</loc>
<lastmod>2019-12-10T18:24:17+00:00</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Each Sitemap Child is a simple list of 49,999 URLs and they are all under 10MB in size.

I uploaded the Sitemap Index and all of the Sitemap Children to the server. I double-checked to make sure the Sitemap Index and all the Sitemap Children are all accessible on the server, and they are.

However, when I submit the Sitemap Index to Google via the Google Search Console, I get a success message saying "Sitemap index processed successfully", no errors are reported anywhere, and yet it only lists 9 of the 106 Sitemap Children (and they all happen to start with 'sitemap1'):

Sitemap                         Status  Discovered URLs
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap1.txt   Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap10.txt  Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap100.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap101.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap102.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap103.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap104.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap105.txt Success 49,999
/sitemap-dec2019/sitemap106.txt Success 49,999
1-9 of 9

There is nothing different in the Sitemap Index that would make Google select only those 9 specific Sitemap Children.

Under total discovered URLs, it says 449,991 which happens to be 49,999 x 9.

When I remove the Sitemap and re-add the Sitemap Index, the same 9 Sitemap Children get listed, and none of the others appear anywhere.

Considering there are over 100 Sitemap Children, this means more than 90% are being completely ignored.

How can I fix this so that all 100% of the Sitemap Children (and their respective URLs) get discovered?

John Conde
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ProgrammerGirl
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about **SEO** which is off-topic at Stack Overflow. Please read ["Which SEO questions should be closed as non-programming/non-admin?"](//meta.stackoverflow.com/a/382618) to better understand when SEO questions are acceptable to ask here (most are not) and where you might be able to get assistance. – John Conde Apr 26 '20 at 20:26

1 Answers1

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I have just the same issue. My site gets fresh content upload every month. Back in July there was enough for 88 sitemaps last month 89 and now this month 90. Google downloads the sitemap list around once per week. But is stuck on there being 88 only.

Its as if it has downloaded but isn't actually reading it.

The only solution I can think of is to do delete the sitemap index then re-add again after a week.

Ive had Panda issues before and if you expand and improve the usefulness and text richness of your pages you can address this. It is hard work though and a real headache though but keep working on it and you'll overcome it.

The most likely overall explanation is that your site is suffering from Google Panda issues and Google is intentionally not indexing much of your site, and that is then impacting on how it handles your sitemaps.

Out of 4.5million pages I only have 32,000 indexed though as mentioned 88 of my 90 sitemaps are being downloaded but that doesnt result in the actual indexing of my pages.

Adrian Lawrence
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