I’ve been sharing my experiences with the Google search console and today we’re going to talk about site maps.

And unfortunately I’ve been unable to get them to work due to my ongoing issues with cyberroadmap.com domain name not being hosted at WordPress.com. As you’ll recall I purchased the domain from Godaddy, but due to the ICANN 60-day rule (I have 42 days to go) I’m using a DNS technique to DNS forward and mask cyberroadmap.wordpress.com. That way when visitors type cyberroadmap.com, it looks like cyberroadmap.com.

Also, I’ve used cyberroadmap.com as the site in Google search, I have to use that domain for sitmaps in the Google search console. If I try to use the WordPress links it won’t accept them.

While that may not stop you, I have learned that every WordPress.com site has a sitemap – In this case —> https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/sitemap.xml If my domain was wordpress.com hosted, then the assumption is that it should work properly.

When I use the mapped DNS technique the XML file losses its formatting, and when added to the sitemap area of Google Search Console I get errors. This is how it looks from cyberroadmap.com:

“https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/sophos-2020-ransomware-survey-the-other-global-pandemic/2020-06-13T23:59:19+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/about/2020-06-13T00:58:00+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/we-are-in-cyber-roadmap-added-to-google-news/2020-06-13T00:45:35+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/lots-of-waiting-get-your-pc-device-patched/2020-06-12T01:17:28+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/redundancy/2020-06-10T22:52:53+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/part-iv-getting-more-out-of-google-issues-found-in-cyber-roadmap/2020-06-09T23:03:23+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/part-iii-getting-more-out-of-google-google-search-console/2020-06-08T23:38:32+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/part-ii-getting-more-out-of-google-google-search-console/2020-06-08T17:15:17+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/getting-more-out-of-google/2020-06-06T22:56:50+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/a-lot-of-thinking/2020-06-06T01:21:03+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/personal/https://cyberroadmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cyber-security-risk-management-chart.pngCyber Security Risk Management Chart2020-06-05T23:11:00+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/passwords-dont-worry-be-happy/2020-06-05T00:44:18+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/day-7-news-years-resolution-gone-bad/2020-06-04T02:28:38+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/day-6-den-of-thieves-who-hacked-the-fed-video-success/2020-06-02T23:52:49+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/day-5-star-wars-at-sea-their-test-worked-mine-didnt/2020-06-02T00:26:35+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/day-4-a-60-day-dns-oops/2020-05-31T20:12:59+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/30/day-3-take-some-time-to-learn-website-design-its-not-that-hard/2020-05-30T17:59:19+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/the-first-step-an-idea/2020-05-30T14:06:57+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/small-business/2020-05-30T14:02:17+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/road-maps/2020-05-30T13:57:15+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/not-another-tiger-king-reference-update-to-about-page/2020-05-30T13:53:28+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/home/2020-05-30T12:53:50+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/word-press-walking-talking-and-posting/https://cyberroadmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/wp-1590686227341.pngwp-1590686227341.png2020-05-30T12:40:38+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/step-two-a-dns-name-is-your-name/2020-05-30T12:39:07+00:00monthlyhttps://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/security/2020-05-29T22:47:49+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/blog-2/2020-05-29T14:47:45+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/contact/2020-05-27T23:01:11+00:00weekly0.6https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.comdaily1.02020-06-13T23:59:19+00:00”

This is how it looks from cyberroadmap.wordpress.com:

<!– generator=”wordpress.com” –><urlset xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″ xmlns:mobile=”http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-mobile/1.0″ xmlns:image=”http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1″ xsi:schemaLocation=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9 http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsd”><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/sophos-2020-ransomware-survey-the-other-global-pandemic/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-13T23:59:19+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/about/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-13T00:58:00+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/we-are-in-cyber-roadmap-added-to-google-news/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-13T00:45:35+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/lots-of-waiting-get-your-pc-device-patched/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-12T01:17:28+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/redundancy/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-10T22:52:53+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/part-iv-getting-more-out-of-google-issues-found-in-cyber-roadmap/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-09T23:03:23+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/part-iii-getting-more-out-of-google-google-search-console/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-08T23:38:32+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/part-ii-getting-more-out-of-google-google-search-console/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-08T17:15:17+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/getting-more-out-of-google/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-06T22:56:50+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/a-lot-of-thinking/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-06T01:21:03+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/personal/</loc><mobile:mobile/><image:image><image:loc>https://cyberroadmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cyber-security-risk-management-chart.png</image:loc><image:title>Cyber Security Risk Management Chart</image:title></image:image><lastmod>2020-06-05T23:11:00+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/passwords-dont-worry-be-happy/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-05T00:44:18+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/day-7-news-years-resolution-gone-bad/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-04T02:28:38+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/day-6-den-of-thieves-who-hacked-the-fed-video-success/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-02T23:52:49+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/day-5-star-wars-at-sea-their-test-worked-mine-didnt/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-06-02T00:26:35+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/day-4-a-60-day-dns-oops/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-31T20:12:59+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/30/day-3-take-some-time-to-learn-website-design-its-not-that-hard/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T17:59:19+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/the-first-step-an-idea/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T14:06:57+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/small-business/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T14:02:17+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/road-maps/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T13:57:15+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/not-another-tiger-king-reference-update-to-about-page/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T13:53:28+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/home/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T12:53:50+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/word-press-walking-talking-and-posting/</loc><mobile:mobile/><image:image><image:loc>https://cyberroadmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/wp-1590686227341.png</image:loc><image:title>wp-1590686227341.png</image:title></image:image><lastmod>2020-05-30T12:40:38+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/step-two-a-dns-name-is-your-name/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-30T12:39:07+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/security/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-29T22:47:49+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/blog-2/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-29T14:47:45+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com/contact/</loc><mobile:mobile/><lastmod>2020-05-27T23:01:11+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>weekly</changefreq><priority>0.6</priority></url><url><loc>https://cyberroadmap.wordpress.com</loc><changefreq>daily</changefreq><priority>1.0</priority><lastmod>2020-06-13T23:59:19+00:00</lastmod></url></urlset&gt;

While I’d prefer not to wait the 42 days to prove my suspicions, but at this time that’s the best option I have. Although, I have considered using a different DNS name since wordpress.com provides them for free in some of their packages.

We shall see.