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Online store SEO

Which sitemap URL to submit to Search Console for a Salla store

18 Oct 2026 ·6 min read · اقرأ بالعربية

A sitemap is the list of URLs you hand to Google so it can find your products, categories and pages. A Salla store has two candidate sitemap addresses, and on the store checked for this article they behaved very differently. Its default robots.txt declared Sitemap: https://salla.sa/{StoreUsername}/sitemap.xml, and that address answered with a 302 redirect to salla.com instead of a sitemap. The same store's own address, https://{your-domain}/sitemap.xml, returned a working sitemap index that listed sitemap-1.xml, sitemap-2.xml and blog-1.xml. If the only sitemap reference Google sees leads away from your store, the sitemap does nothing to help Google find new products. This was one store on 30 September 2026, so check yours before acting.

How to check

  1. Open https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt and copy the address on the Sitemap: line.
  2. Open that address in a browser. A working sitemap shows XML that starts with <sitemapindex> or <urlset>. If you land on a different page or website, the reference redirects.
  3. Open https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml directly and confirm it lists child sitemaps, and that those open too.
  4. In Search Console (Google's free tool for monitoring how your site appears in search), open the Sitemaps report and see which address you submitted and whether Google could read it.
  5. Run the free audit. Store Audit by Ahmed Fayed follows every Sitemap: line in your robots.txt and flags addresses that redirect or fail. It needs your store's own domain; addresses like salla.sa/{store} aren't supported yet.

How to fix

1. Verify your own domain in Search Console

Add your store's custom domain as a Search Console property. A May 2025 guide describes verifying it with a DNS TXT record that you add in Salla's domain settings. Do this for the domain your store actually uses, with or without www, over https.

2. Find the sitemap link Salla gives you

Salla generates the sitemap automatically. The same guide gives the dashboard path as Advanced settings › SEO › Copy link (الإعدادات المتقدمة ← تحسين محركات البحث SEO ← نسخ الرابط), and Salla's help center lists "sitemap submission to Google" among its SEO tools. I haven't confirmed which address that button returns today, so check it before you submit:

  • If the copied link is on your own domain, submit it.
  • If it's a salla.sa address, open it first. If it redirects, submit https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml instead.

3. Submit the sitemap index once

In the Sitemaps report, submit https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. It's a sitemap index, and Google accepts an index as a single submission, so you don't need to add sitemap-1.xml and the others one by one. Google also says that a sitemap hosted on a different site from the pages it lists needs every site involved to be verified in Search Console, or a Sitemap: reference in the pages' robots.txt. You can't verify salla.sa, which is one more reason to submit the sitemap on your own domain.

Come back to the report later and check that the status shows the sitemap was read and that the number of discovered URLs roughly matches your catalogue.

4. Optional: correct the robots.txt line

Salla's robots.txt can be edited (edited files exist on live Salla stores), but I haven't confirmed where the editor sits in the current dashboard. If you can edit it, point the Sitemap: line at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, and don't paste rules from other platforms while you're there. I treat the Search Console submission as the main fix and this edit as optional.

If your store isn't on Salla

  • Zid: /sitemap.xml is an index of sitemap_products.xml, sitemap_pages.xml and sitemap_categories.xml. Zid Help has an article on Search Console and sitemaps.
  • Shopify: /sitemap.xml is generated and updated automatically, and languages are added to it automatically.
  • WordPress: core serves /wp-sitemap.xml, and SEO plugins usually replace it, for example Yoast with /sitemap_index.xml. Submit the one your site actually serves, not both.

Common mistakes

  • Submitting the salla.sa/{store}/sitemap.xml address to Search Console.
  • Submitting the sitemap to a property for a different version of your domain (http instead of https, or www when the store runs without it).
  • Expecting a sitemap to override robots.txt blocks or noindex. A sitemap helps Google find URLs; it doesn't force them into the index.
  • Reading too much into lastmod. On the store checked, every policy page carried the same lastmod, equal to the store's creation time. Google says to use lastmod only when it's accurate; here it's a platform default you can't change, so treat it as low priority.

Run the free Store Audit by Ahmed Fayed to check your store's sitemap and robots.txt. If you'd like help fixing this, contact me on WhatsApp +20 102 702 0701 or at ahmed-fayed.com.

Sources

Salla

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