Want Google to notice your updates faster? Here’s how to request a Google recrawl using your sitemap (Using Search Console like a Pro).

Want your new website, or your fresh content updates, to get noticed by Google faster? You need to ask it, nicely but directly. The good news? You don’t need to sit and wait for a crawler to swing by at its leisure. Instead, you can take the wheel and request a recrawl in Google Search Console (Read our article on Google Search Console).

Here’s how we do it at On Track Marketing. Fast, clean, and to the point. Let’s take https://ontrackmarketing.uk/sitemap.xml as our example.

Step 1: Add & Verify Your Website in Google Search Console

Before anything else, head over to Google Search Console and log in with your Google account.

• Click ‘Add Property’.
• Enter the full URL of your site, in this case, https://ontrackmarketing.uk/.
• Choose one of two methods:
  • Domain Property covers all subdomains and protocols, best long-term choice, requires DNS verification (a quick TXT record update with your domain registrar).
  • URL Prefix is faster and more flexible, lets you verify using HTML tag, Google Tag Manager, Analytics, etc.

Once verified, you’ve got access to the tools that matter.

Step 2: Submit Your Sitemap

This is your blueprint, the document that tells Google which URLs matter.

1. In the left-hand menu, go to Sitemaps.
2. Under “Add a new sitemap”, paste: https://ontrackmarketing.uk/sitemap.xml (actually use yours).
3. Click Submit.

Now, sit back (but not for too long). Google’s bots will now be queued up to crawl your site based on what’s inside that sitemap.

Step 3: Manually Request a Recrawl of Key URLs

Updating a service page? Just launched a blog, like this one? Get those changes crawled now, not “whenever.”

1. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console.
2. Enter your full URL, for example: https://ontrackmarketing.uk/services.
3. Press Enter and wait for the results.
4. Click ‘Request Indexing’.

Boom. Google’s just been told to prioritise crawling that page. Use it wisely, there’s a cap on how many manual requests you can submit per day.

Step 4: Track the Crawl & Indexing Progress

Once you’ve submitted your sitemap and any key URLs, it’s time to track what happens.

Check the following in GSC:

• Pages under “Indexing”, see which URLs have made it into Google’s index.
• Sitemaps, check for crawl errors or submission issues.
• Coverage, see any problems preventing your content from showing up.

This is where the magic happens, or where you find out something’s broken. Either way, you’re in control now.

Extra Tips for SEO Speed Freaks

• Don’t block yourself, make sure robots.txt isn’t excluding key URLs.
• Use canonical tags to tell Google the right version of each page.
• Internal links matter, link to new pages from indexed ones to help discovery.
• Keep your sitemap updated automatically, your CMS or SEO plugin should do this.

Final Lap: What This Means for Your SEO

Search Console isn’t just a technical tool, it’s a control panel. If you’re launching a new site or making big updates, don’t rely on hope. Be direct, be strategic, and use your sitemap as the roadmap to visibility.

So whether you’re updating your site structure, dropping a new service offering, or publishing that latest Fix-It Friday blog, don’t leave Google in the dark.

Push for that recrawl, and take your visibility from the pits to pole position, just like that Google has done a recrawl using Search Console.

Need help getting your sitemap set up or fixing a crawl issue that won’t budge? That’s what we do. Get in touch and let’s make sure your SEO doesn’t stall on the grid.