XML sitemap contains errors — the fix
The XML sitemap exists but contains issues such as malformed XML, non-200 status URLs, non-canonical URLs, or URLs blocked by robots.txt. These errors reduce the sitemap's effectiveness as a crawl signal.
Where this fits: crawlability in SEO
Crawlability is whether search engine bots can physically reach and read your pages. Before Google can rank anything, Googlebot has to fetch it: follow links to it, receive a successful response, and parse the HTML. Crawl problems are silent — the page looks fine in a browser while bots hit walls (robots rules, broken chains, server errors, infinite URL spaces). Because everything downstream depends on the crawl, fixing crawlability issues usually unlocks more value per hour than any other SEO work.
Why xml sitemap contains errors hurts your rankings
A sitemap with errors sends mixed signals to search engines. Including URLs that return 404s, redirect, or are blocked wastes crawl budget. Google may lose trust in the sitemap's accuracy and deprioritise it, reducing its positive impact on crawl discovery.
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site.
How to fix it
Audit your sitemap to ensure every listed URL returns a 200 status code, is the canonical version, is not blocked by robots.txt, and is not marked noindex. Remove redirecting, broken, or non-canonical URLs. Validate the XML syntax. Most CMS platforms and sitemap plugins have options to auto-exclude problematic URLs.
Crawlability best practices
- Keep robots.txt minimal and deliberate — block admin/duplicate spaces, never CSS/JS assets.
- Maintain an XML sitemap that lists only canonical, indexable, 200-status pages, and reference it in robots.txt.
- Keep every important page within 3 clicks of the homepage.
- Return proper status codes: 200 for content, 301 for permanent moves, 410 for gone — never soft-404s.
- Collapse redirect chains to a single hop; update internal links to point at final URLs.
- Keep URL parameters under control — infinite filter/sort combinations burn crawl budget.
The full library: SEO best practices, by category.
Frequently asked questions
What does "XML sitemap contains errors" mean?
The XML sitemap exists but contains issues such as malformed XML, non-200 status URLs, non-canonical URLs, or URLs blocked by robots.txt. These errors reduce the sitemap's effectiveness as a crawl signal.
Why does xml sitemap contains errors matter for SEO?
A sitemap with errors sends mixed signals to search engines. Including URLs that return 404s, redirect, or are blocked wastes crawl budget. Google may lose trust in the sitemap's accuracy and deprioritise it, reducing its positive impact on crawl discovery.
How do I fix xml sitemap contains errors?
Audit your sitemap to ensure every listed URL returns a 200 status code, is the canonical version, is not blocked by robots.txt, and is not marked noindex. Remove redirecting, broken, or non-canonical URLs. Validate the XML syntax. Most CMS platforms and sitemap plugins have options to auto-exclude problematic URLs.
How serious is this issue?
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site. It belongs to the crawlability family of checks.
How do I find every page affected by this on my site?
Run a free Dr Urls audit: it crawls your site, detects xml sitemap contains errors on every affected page, shows example URLs, and generates a ready-to-use fix task. Re-scan after fixing to verify the issue is gone.
Does your site have this issue?
A free Dr Urls audit crawls your site, finds every page affected by xml sitemap contains errors, and hands you a ready-made fix task.
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