Your sitemap.xml helps search engines discover URLs faster. But small mistakes can reduce its value.
Common issues
- Broken URLs or 404 pages included in the sitemap.
- Pages blocked by robots.txt or marked as noindex.
- Too many low-value or duplicate URLs.
- Huge sitemap without splitting into multiple files.
Quick tips
- Include only important URLs (landing pages, blog posts, core sections).
- Split sitemaps when they grow large.
- Make sure each URL returns status 200 and loads reliably.
Try the tool
Use Dr Sitemap to analyze your sitemap and surface problems clearly: