Google Search Central documentation updated on August 19, 2026 to recommend splitting large XML sitemap files when they exceed 50,000 URLs or 50MB.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller posted on X on August 19, 2026: "We're seeing some delays in processing sitemap submissions in Search Console. Our team is aware and working on a fix."
Google's official Search Status Dashboard reported a "Sitemap Processing Delays" incident starting at 11:42 AM PDT on August 18, 2026, affecting the "URL Inspection tool and sitemap report."
A new Google Search Central help document titled "How to submit your website to search engines: Best practices" was published on August 19, 2026, stating: "While not required, submitting a sitemap is highly recommended, especially for large or new websites."
The Search Engine Journal reported on August 18, 2026 that Google's Gary Illye said in a podcast: "A sitemap is a hint, not a directive. We may not crawl or index every URL listed in it."