See how and why to delete an outdated XML Sitemap from the non-canonical website property in Google Search Console.
Are you getting emails from Google about old stuff that doesn’t exist anymore? This may fix it.
Why You Need to Remove Old XML Sitemaps
Google has told us that you should verify every version of your site property in Search Console.
Most of us have submitted a sitemap to the HTTP canonical version, meaning if our sites were www, then that’s the version we submitted the sitemap to.
When we converted to HTTPS, we verified the two new properties and then submitted our new XML sitemap to the new canonical.
But, we may not have deleted the old sitemap on the original canonical.
And that’s what we need to do now, as it seems to be confusing Google more than helping it figure out what our new links should be.
You may have received an email from Search Console saying there was an issue with a page or post or category that doesn’t even exist anymore.
My bet is that it is coming from that outdated XML sitemap, and it needs to be removed now.
Confirmation from Google
I asked about this issue on the Google Webmaster Central Help Forum.
Hardil confirmed that we only submit the sitemap to the new canonical and that there is no harm in removing the old one.
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Transcript
see how to delete an outdated XML Sitemap from the non-canonical website property in Google Search Console.
This is especially important to do if you have converted your site to HTTPS.
Be sure to see the notes above this tutorial for why you need to remove the old sitemap, and the issues it may have caused, like notifications from Search Console about problems with posts and pages that no longer exist.
Log into you Google Search Console account.
You should see all 4 versions of your site properties verified.
If you don’t see them all, or see messages that you don’t own the property, or it is not verified, then you may want to take my DIY SEO course that includes multiple tutorials on all of your Google Connections, including both Search Console and Analytics, and tutorials on the Yoast SEO plugin, plus live Workshops.
You’ll want to locate the original canonical version where the old XML sitemap is, and click on it. For most of you, that will be the http www version.
I’m going to scroll down to the very end.
And click on one of my test sites.
From your Dashboard, you will be able to see the Sitemaps section, and you should see graphs of what has been submitted.
If you don’t see graphs, then no sitemap has been submitted to this property.
Click the Sitemap header.
Scroll down to the sitemap list.
Check the box or boxes for the sitemaps listed.
Once you do that, the Delete button will become active.
Click that button.
A pop up will appear to ask you if you are sure.
Click Yes.
Then close.
That’s it!
You may want to check all versions of your site property to ensure you only have a current sitemap on the current canonical version.
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Thanks for the tip MaAnna!
You’re welcome Erin!! Hope this puts a stop to Google’s confusion and those pesky emails from Search Console.
Thanks MaAnna,
Have you figured out how to do it on the new Beta Search Console? It doesn’t seem as straight forward!
Luckily, for now at least, I could switch back to the “old” view, and delete the sitemap from there.
I’m still primarily using the original Search Console interface too for now. There’s just too much missing from the new one to make it viable.
I understand why they released it. But until everything is in there, I can’t see using it.
Thanks for the information. I couldn’t find the checkbox to delete a sitemap until I realized it was missing on the new interface. All good now!
Yeah, Chris, that new interface doesn’t have all the functions as the original. I wish to heck they had waited to put it into action until it was fully viable. For the most part, I’m still using the original interface.
You did my conversion. I still have the two http sitemaps. Neither one ever show errors. But somtimes they do show that pesky comment subscription block. So, do I need to do the delete of the two http? Thx
Yeah, that was the point of this whole tutorial – to get rid of any old sitemaps now that Google has changed their minds about it.
Amazing read! I am going to share the link with other people also to help them out.
Glad you found the info helpful!
This does not seem valid anymore. There are no checkboxes to click on the new version of Google Search Console to delete sitemaps. I removed the files but it still shows as an error crawling the old sitemap.
Yep, tech changes all the time, and this only applies to doing it on the old interface, which you can still access as of today. They are removing things rapidly, though, so don’t know how much longer it will be available.
And it could take months for Google to figure out, and reflect, the change.
It appears you can no longer access the old version and now no way to fix such an easy problem. Just another one of many, many other small things that Google could easily fix, but instead chooses to waste all our time trying to figure it out.
They really botched the whole rollout of the new version and are certainly not being careful to ensure we have full features on it. I’ve got all new tutorials coming for the DIY SEO course on the latest changes with this full property thing they just rolled out on the new version. I see at least 2 red flags on it already