How it works
Once a day, we read your XML sitemap (/sitemap.xml, or the URL set on the monitor), follow sitemap indexes, and check:
- that every sitemap loads and is valid XML;
- that each entry has a valid
<loc>, and a validpriorityandchangefreqif set; - that no URL is listed twice, and that no sitemap lists more than 50,000 URLs;
- that every listed URL works: we request up to 5,000 of them and report the ones that return an error.
A sitemap with broken or duplicate URLs wastes search engines' crawl budget and slows down the indexing of your new pages. The key pages found here are also tested by the Lighthouse check.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OK | The sitemap is valid and every listed URL works. |
| Warning | Some URLs could not be checked, because the site rate-limited us or the limit was reached. |
| Failed | The sitemap has issues, such as an error status, invalid entries, duplicates or broken URLs. |
By default you are notified of failures only.
Fixing common problems
- Sitemap returns 404: generate one with your CMS or framework, or set the right sitemap URL on the monitor.
- Broken URLs listed: remove deleted pages from the sitemap, or redirect them. Most generators rebuild the sitemap automatically.
- Rate limited: allow our IP addresses in your firewall or rate limiter.