When you connect a custom domain, your blog is operated under your own domain instead of blog.mikihands.com.

For example, if you connect https://example.com, search engines will recognize that address as your blog’s domain.

For this reason, if you use a custom domain, we recommend registering your domain directly with search engine tools such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Yandex Webmaster, or Naver Search Advisor, and submitting your sitemap.

1. What Is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is a page list that tells search engines, “These are the pages included in this blog.”

Mikihands Blog automatically generates a sitemap for your custom domain. You do not need to create or upload a sitemap file yourself.

The sitemap URL for a custom domain is:

https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

For example, if your domain is example.com, use the following URL:

https://example.com/sitemap.xml

2. How Is the Sitemap Structured?

When you open the sitemap, it may appear as a sitemap index like the example below.

<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-posts-1.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-04-27</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-static-1.xml</loc>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-topics-1.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-04-27</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

This means that one sitemap file does not contain every URL directly. Instead, it groups multiple sub-sitemaps together.

The main sections are usually:

Sitemap Content
sitemap-posts-1.xml Blog posts
sitemap-static-1.xml Static pages such as About
sitemap-topics-1.xml Topic pages

In most cases, you only need to submit the top-level sitemap URL to search engines.

https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Search engines will read this file and follow the linked sub-sitemaps to check the pages inside.

3. Why Submit a Sitemap?

Submitting a sitemap is not mandatory, but we recommend it if you use a custom domain.

Submitting a sitemap can help:

  • search engines discover new posts more easily
  • Topic pages and static pages become easier to crawl
  • you check indexing status and crawl errors in search engine consoles
  • you manage the SEO status of your domain over time

However, submitting a sitemap does not mean every post will appear in search results immediately. A sitemap tells search engines about your pages. Actual indexing and ranking are decided by each search engine.

4. Why Domain Ownership Verification Is Needed

To submit a sitemap in a search engine console, you first need to prove that you manage the domain.

This is called domain ownership verification.

Mikihands Blog supports ownership verification using the HTML file upload method for the following search engines:

  • Google
  • Yandex
  • Naver

For Bing, we recommend using Google Search Console integration or DNS verification, such as the CNAME method.

5. Verifying Ownership with the HTML File Method

The screens differ slightly depending on the search engine, but the basic process is similar.

  1. Open Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster, Naver Search Advisor, or another search engine console.
  2. Register your custom domain.
  3. Select HTML file upload as the ownership verification method.
  4. Download the HTML file provided by the search engine.
  5. Open the downloaded file and copy the verification string shown inside.
  6. Paste the string into the Search Engine Domain Ownership Verification area in Mikihands Blog settings, then save it.
  7. Open the verification URL provided by the search engine and check that the string is displayed correctly.
  8. Return to the search engine console and click Verify.

If everything is set correctly, the search engine will be able to verify your domain ownership.

6. Example Verification Values

The value provided by each search engine is different for every account and domain. The examples below are only for understanding the format.

google-site-verification: google123abc.html

Verification: a1bc23def5gh2ijk

naver-site-verification: naverxxxxxxxx.html

Do not copy these examples. Always enter the value issued by the search engine console for your own domain.

7. Submitting the Sitemap

After domain ownership verification is complete, submit your sitemap from the Sitemaps menu in the search engine console.

The sitemap URL to submit is:

https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

If your domain is example.com, submit:

https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Depending on the search engine, you may need to enter the full URL, or only sitemap.xml inside the registered domain property. Follow the instructions shown in each search engine console.

8. If Verification or Submission Does Not Work

If something does not work, check the following first:

  • your custom domain is connected correctly
  • you are checking the domain set as the Primary Domain
  • the verification string was copied exactly
  • there are no unnecessary spaces or line breaks before or after the value
  • you saved the value and tried verification again in the search engine console

A small difference in the verification string can cause verification to fail, so it is best to copy the value exactly as provided by the search engine.

Summary

If you connect a custom domain, we recommend the following SEO setup process:

  1. Register your custom domain in the search engine console.
  2. Verify domain ownership.
  3. Submit your sitemap.
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
  1. Check indexing status and errors in the search engine console from time to time.

Sitemap submission and ownership verification are basic steps for managing SEO with a custom domain. After this setup, you can manage search visibility more systematically by improving content quality, building Topic structures, using internal links, publishing multilingual pages, and using features such as IndexNow.

  • Connecting a Custom Domain
  • Notifying Search Engines with IndexNow