Checks / Links, canonical and speed
No sitemap.xml
A sitemap lists every page you want crawled.
sitemap_missing · Links, canonical and speed · Warning
What to change
Publish /sitemap.xml and add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt.
Example
Line to add to robots.txt:
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xmlHow common it is
On a sample, the study measured sites whose sitemap.xml answers 404: 76 of 291 Show HN sites (26%), and 45 of 65 Lovable sites (69%).
Fetched 20 and 21 Oct 2026 as CitedBot, robots.txt obeyed, no JavaScript. Study: Launch crawl 2026-10 (English).
Counted with the check's own rule, leaving out sites that refused the request (HTTP 403): CSV of the counts.
About this check
| Check ID | sitemap_missing |
|---|---|
| Report section | Links, canonical and speed |
| Severity | Warning |
| How it is decided | Measured: read directly from the page or the server's response. |
| Added | Before 19 Oct 2026 (versions 1 and 2), or a site-wide check with no version date yet |
| Status | Measured in every report |
| Report gives the code | Yes, one block for the site |
Related checks
- Sitemap has invalid entries
- robots.txt does not name your sitemap
- Sitemap has no useful last-modified dates
- Sitemap dates are older than the pages' own
- Sitemap and site disagree
- Broken internal links
See whether it applies to your site
Paste your address and we crawl up to 10 pages and show every issue we find, with its fix. No account, no card.
Every plan crawls up to its page limit and lists these checks with the fix: plans.
How an audit works: method