FREE LAUNCH CHECK GUIDE
Sitemap XML Checker for New Websites
Check whether sitemap.xml is valid, avoid preview-domain URLs and HTML error pages, and verify that launch pages use your preferred canonical domain.
Run this check on my homepage →What this check catches
A sitemap gives crawlers a clean list of URLs you want discovered. New sites often expose a missing file, an HTML 404 page, malformed XML, or URLs copied from a preview deployment.
Why it matters before launch
A sitemap does not guarantee indexing, but a broken or stale one wastes a useful discovery signal and can advertise the wrong hostname during launch.
Common warning signs
- /sitemap.xml returns 404 or an HTML page
- The XML cannot be parsed
- Entries use a preview, staging, or old domain
- Important public pages are missing or noindex pages are included
How to inspect it
- Request /sitemap.xml on the preferred HTTPS hostname
- Confirm the response is successful XML or a valid sitemap index
- Review a sample of loc values for the correct origin
- Compare listed URLs with canonical and indexing intent
How to fix it
- Generate the sitemap from production routes or content
- Use absolute URLs on the preferred domain
- Exclude private, redirected, duplicate, and noindex URLs
- Reference the sitemap from robots.txt and deploy both together
Verify after the change
Open the production XML directly, validate its URLs, then rescan. Submit the same sitemap in the relevant search console after launch.
Scan the live URL again →