Click where it says ‘indexed but not submitted to sitemaps’ and see what URLs it shows. Usually the reason for this is it’s something that doesn’t need to be included in a sitemap. But the fact that it has been indexed means Google has found it anyway. Unless you are seeing lots and lots of ‘normal’ content (posts, pages – the stuff you want Google to index) marked as ‘indexed but not submitted to sitemaps’, don’t worry about it.

Adding all 4 variations to GSC has been considered best practice in the SEO world for years. I continually check reliable and authoritative sources to check my advice is still correct. Here’s a direct quote from an article in Search Engine Land ‘For any website on its own domain and being served from the HTTPS protocol, at a bare minimum, four versions of your domain need to be present in Google Search Console’ (https://searchengineland.com/seo-101-url-versions-add-google-search-console-282463) And here’s a quote from a more recent article in Search Engine Journal which corroborates this >>> ‘If you have more than one variation of your domain, especially in a situation where you have migrated from http:// to https://, you must have all of your domain variations added and verified in Google Search Console.’ (https://www.searchenginejournal.com/definitive-list-reasons-google-isnt-indexing-site/118245/). As mentioned above, I am always keen to keep my advice up-to-date, so if you have seen anything more recent, from a reliable and authoritative source, that says this is no longer necessary please do share it with me. But please take care when looking at YouTube tutorials – not everyone there is a reliable source!

Hi Frank, You are absolutely right that you can select ‘Domain’ and submit the URL in it’s most basic form. However, using this method requires DNS verification, which is a different method to the one I use in this tutorial. I have had readers and students who have encountered problems when using the DNS verification method, which is why my tutorial uses the HTML tag / Yoast method which is much simpler to do and seems more reliable / less prone to problems. However, with this verification method, you need to select ‘URL prefix’ and submit all 4 versions. Hope that helps! Eb 🙂

I have a question regarding what you wrote under “ADD A PROPERTY” TO GSC. You suggested submitting 4 variations of your URL. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but if I choose “Domain” as opposed to “URL Prefix” when I add a property on GSC, wouldn’t I just submit the URL in its most basic form, as example.com, and not submit any variations (www, http, https, etc)?

Many thanks!!

Aw, thanks for this lovely comment! I am passionate about helping bloggers fulfil their blogging dreams. I am so pleased that has come across. Wishing you all the best with your blog! Eb 🙂

Great post and nicely explained! I have been following your posts for just a few months now and they have been particularly helpful. The point that you are so passionate to help fellow Bloggers with such detailed explanations is inspiring. I am still a small blogger but your posts give a lot of motivation. Thank you!
I will be sure to take more help from your blogs soon!

Good to hear! I’m glad it helped you. Eb 🙂