Practical guide

What an XML Sitemap Does and How to Check It

An XML sitemap helps crawlers discover canonical URLs; it does not guarantee crawling, indexing, or rankings. Internal links and useful page content remain essential.

What to do

  1. List only canonical, publicly accessible pages that you want search engines to consider. Exclude redirects, private pages, and duplicate URLs.
  2. Check that each sitemap URL returns the intended page and is not blocked by robots rules or an unintended noindex directive.
  3. Validate the XML syntax and submit the sitemap through the relevant search-engine webmaster tools.
  4. Keep the sitemap current as useful pages are added or retired, and monitor indexing reports for errors.

Checks and limitations

  • A sitemap is not a substitute for descriptive titles, useful page content, or links between related pages.
  • Do not include a page until it is ready for visitors and has a stable canonical URL.