IndieSitemap
by turushan

Does your sitemap work?

One domain in. The sitemap found, read, counted, and ten of its pages requested.

Loads the public IndieHeaders URL. Run the check when you are ready.

A domain, or the address of a sitemap. IndieSitemap reads robots.txt, then the sitemap, then ten of its pages.

  • No signup
  • No score
  • No public history

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Focused utilities for the unglamorous parts of shipping.

Free for indies. No catch.

Straight answers about IndieSitemap: what the result means, what to do with it, and why there is no catch.

No asterisks hiding down here

What does a sitemap check look for?

A sitemap is an XML file, usually at /sitemap.xml, that lists the pages you want search engines to find. IndieSitemap finds yours the way a crawler does, from the Sitemap: line in robots.txt or at the usual address, reads it, and checks that it follows the sitemaps.org protocol.

It then opens a sample of the listed pages to see whether they answer, whether they redirect, and whether any of them tells search engines not to index it.

What is lastmod, and does Google use it?

lastmod is the date a listed page last changed. Google uses it to decide what to crawl again, but only when the dates are honest. A sitemap with no dates gets crawled on Google's own schedule. A sitemap whose dates all move on every build gets its dates ignored.

The check counts how many entries carry a date and how many carry one that does not parse.

Why does a listed page count as a problem?

A sitemap is a promise that every address in it is a page worth indexing. An entry that answers 404, redirects somewhere else, fails with a server error, or does not answer at all breaks that promise and wastes crawl time. Remove it or fix the page.

An entry whose page says noindex asks a crawler to come and then tells it to leave. Pick one: keep the page in the sitemap and let it be indexed, or drop it from the sitemap.

Where should my sitemap be, and how do crawlers find it?

Put it at /sitemap.xml and name it in robots.txt with a Sitemap: line that carries the full address. A large site can use a sitemap index that points at several sitemap files. Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools also accept the address directly.

Does a pass mean every page is fine?

No. The check reads the sitemap and samples a bounded number of the pages it lists. A pass says the sitemap is well formed and the sampled pages were healthy. It does not prove every entry in a large sitemap answers. Fix the flagged rows, then run the check again.

Is it really free?

Yes. No account, no card, no premium plan, no upgrade nag, no hidden paywall. IndieSitemap is free, all of it.

What happens to what I check?

There is no public lookup history. A network check sends the public input needed for that check to its named source. Local file tools process file contents in your browser. Analytics is currently off, so no visit or job data is sent to a tracker. Anything the tool saves for you stays in your browser.