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Sitemap checker for WordPress sites

Give your site's address and see which sitemap it has, whether robots.txt points to it, whether what answers there is a sitemap at all, and how many addresses it lists.

Such as example.com. Our server asks that site for its robots.txt and its sitemap, up to five addresses in all, and keeps neither the addresses nor what they sent.

What it looks at

Our server asks the site you name for its robots.txt, then for its sitemap: at the address robots.txt gives, or, when it gives none, at the three usual ones. It asks for at most five addresses, all on that site.

  • What points to a sitemap. Whether robots.txt has a line that begins with Sitemap, and what it names. That line is how a search engine finds a sitemap nobody has submitted.
  • What answers. Whether a sitemap answers at /wp-sitemap.xml, which is where WordPress keeps its own, at /sitemap_index.xml or at /sitemap.xml; whether one of them is sent on to another; and whether what answers is a sitemap at all. An address that answers with a web page and a status of 200 looks fine in a browser and is no use to a search engine.
  • What it holds. Whether it is an index of other sitemaps or a list of addresses, how many it lists, whether the first sitemap in an index answers, and whether any address in it is on another host or scheme than the sitemap itself.

Which sitemap to give a search engine

One: the one your site actually serves. If /wp-sitemap.xml is sent on to another address, an SEO plugin has replaced WordPress's sitemap with its own, and the address it ends on is the one to submit. Submitting both tells a search engine the same thing twice. The sitemap WordPress makes by itself explains what is in it and why its address sometimes answers 404.

What it cannot tell you

A sitemap tells a search engine which addresses exist. It does not decide which of them are listed, and a site can be listed with no sitemap at all. This check reads the start of each file and the first sitemap an index lists, not every file, so a large site's count is of what was read. Whether Google has fetched your sitemap is something only the Sitemaps report in Search Console can say.

What happens to the address

The address goes to our server, which makes the requests and sends back the report. No address, and nothing a site answered with, is kept or logged. The requests name themselves as WPMinistry-SiteCheck. Only public web addresses are asked, and a sitemap that robots.txt names on another site is not asked for.

Common questions

My sitemap address answers 404. What switched it off?
On WordPress, usually one of three things. "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" is ticked under Settings, then Reading, which turns WordPress's own sitemap off. An SEO plugin has replaced it and serves its own at another address. Or the site uses plain permalinks, where the address is written differently.
It says the address answers with a web page, not a sitemap. What does that mean?
The site is sending a page, often its home page or its "not found" page, with a status that says everything is fine. A browser shows a page and nothing looks wrong. A search engine asking for a sitemap gets something it cannot read as one.
Do I need a sitemap at all?
Google's own guidance is that a small site whose pages are all linked from one another may not need one. A sitemap matters most for a large site, a new site with few links to it, and pages that nothing else links to. WordPress makes one by itself, so there is rarely a reason to go without.
Why are some addresses on another host or scheme a problem?
To a search engine, http and https are different sites, and so are a name with www and the same name without. A sitemap that lists addresses on a different one from its own usually means the site's address was changed in one setting and not in another.

Sitemap missing, and no idea why?

Tell us the address and what this showed. We look at the site itself and reply with the cause and a fixed quote. The diagnosis is free.

Get a free diagnosis