Sitemap Monitoring
Know every URL that enters or leaves your sitemaps
Your XML sitemaps tell search engines which pages matter, and they change with every deploy, plugin update and CMS migration. Sitemap Monitoring finds every sitemap on your site, reads each one once a day, and tells you which URLs were added, removed or brought back – and which removed URLs were still getting Google clicks. Nothing to install, no verification, and no plan limits on any plan.
- Every URL added, removed or brought back, checked daily
- Removed URLs that still get Google clicks, flagged first
- Every file checked against sitemap limits and rules
- No setup and no plan limits, Free included
Want a one-off check first? Run the free Sitemap Validator – no signup, and your results are never kept.
A deploy dropped 1,200 URLs from your sitemap. Nobody noticed.
Sitemaps are generated by plugins, build scripts and CMS settings that nobody watches. A template change can silently drop a whole section, a file can start failing to download, or a sitemap can grow past the limits search engines accept. You find out weeks later, from a traffic report.
Pages that still earn clicks quietly disappear from your sitemaps
A sitemap file stops downloading and search engines stop reading it
Files grow past 50,000 URLs or 50 MB, and the excess is ignored
Sitemaps list URLs that redirect, return 404 or point their canonical elsewhere
Last-modified dates are rewritten on every build, so they stop meaning anything
Nobody can say which URLs were in the sitemap last month
What changed in your sitemaps, and whether it matters
Each daily check is compared with the one before. The Overview leads with the problems worth fixing, charts URLs listed over time, and breaks every check down into new, removed, back in sitemap and updated URLs.
Automatic Discovery
Sitemaps are found for you: from the Sitemap lines in robots.txt, from the sitemaps you submitted in Google Search Console, from common locations such as /sitemap.xml, and from every sitemap index they list. Compressed sitemaps are read too.
Daily URL Changes
Every check is compared with the previous one. Each URL is marked New, Removed, Back in sitemap or Updated, with flags for dates that went backwards, dates in the future and URLs that keep coming and going.
Removed but Still Getting Clicks
URLs that left your sitemaps but still got Google clicks in the last 90 days are listed first, each with a suggested next step: redirect it, add it back, or check the redirect.
No False Removals
If a file cannot be read, its URLs are held, not counted as removed. A large drop is downloaded again an hour later before it is reported, so a flaky server does not wake you up.
Limits & Validity Checks
Every file is checked against the rules search engines apply: 50,000 URLs, 50 MB, full URLs on the right host, W3C dates, valid image, video, news and hreflang tags. Each finding explains the rule and how to fix it.
Every URL, Cross-Checked
Each sitemap URL is shown with what our crawl found (redirect, 404, noindex or a canonical pointing elsewhere), whether it is in Google's index, when Googlebot last visited and how many clicks it earned, drawing on the other modules you use.
Sitemap Files at a Glance
One table of every sitemap file: whether it was read, how many URLs it lists and how that changed, where it was found, when it last downloaded cleanly and when Googlebot last read it.
Alerts You Choose
Eight alert rules, from a file that fails to load to a sitemap that shrinks by a percentage you set. Alerts arrive in the app and, if you want, by email.
12 Months of History
See what changed on any day of the past year, and follow the full history of any single URL. The same data is available through the public API and MCP tools.
Catch the pages that left your sitemap while Google still sends traffic
A URL that drops out of your sitemap is not always a problem. One that drops out while it still earns Google clicks usually is. Connect Google Search Console and every removed URL is set against its clicks from the last 90 days, so the ones worth putting back or redirecting come first.
- Removed URLs ranked by Google clicks in the last 90 days
- A suggested next step for each one
- Large drops confirmed by a second download an hour later
Every file checked against the rules search engines follow
Sitemaps fail in quiet ways: a file over the size limit, a date in the wrong format, URLs on another host. Each finding is marked Over limit, Error, Close to limit or Recommendation, and comes with the rule, how to fix it, and a link to the source.
- 50,000 URL and 50 MB limits, with a warning before you reach them
- Dates, hosts, namespaces and image, video, news and hreflang tags
- The rule and how to fix it, for every finding
Hear about it the day it happens
Pick the alert rules that matter to you. A file that fails two checks in a row, removed URLs that still get clicks and a sitemap that shrinks are critical by default; new URLs and rewritten dates are informational. You can change any severity.
- Know when a sitemap file stops loading, and when it is readable again
- Set your own threshold for a shrinking or growing sitemap
- In-app alerts, with email when you want it
From domain to daily sitemap checks
Add your domain
That is the whole setup. There is nothing to install and no ownership verification, and the first check starts straight away.
We find your sitemaps
From your robots.txt, the sitemaps submitted in Google Search Console if it is connected, common locations, and every sitemap index they lead to.
Checked once a day
Every file is downloaded and read daily and compared with the day before. Files that cannot be read are held rather than counted as empty.
Changes, problems and alerts
The Overview leads with what to fix, and the alert rules you set up tell you about the rest. History goes back 12 months on every plan.
Real scenarios, real fixes
"After a release, a whole category vanished from the sitemap and we only noticed when traffic dropped."
The next daily check reports the drop, confirms it with a second download, and lists the removed URLs that were still getting Google clicks.
"Our product sitemaps are generated by a plugin, and nobody knows whether they still list the right products."
Every product URL is cross-checked against our crawl and Google's index, so sitemap URLs that redirect, return 404 or are not indexed stand out.
"Our news sitemap is close to its limits and we are not sure the dates are right."
Each file is checked against the URL and size limits and the news, image and date rules, with a warning before a file gets too big.
Every module included. You only choose your coverage
All plans include all twelve modules. Start free, upgrade only when you need wider coverage.
Free
Perfect for trying out VitalSentinel
- 1 domain
- Every sitemap checked daily
- 2,500 pages checked by Site Health
- 1 Indexing property
Lite
For consultants and growing businesses
- 5 domains
- Every sitemap checked daily
- 10,000 pages checked by Site Health
- 10 Indexing properties
Know what changed in your sitemaps
Sitemap Monitoring is on every plan, Free included, with no plan limits on sitemaps or URLs. Add a domain and the first check starts right away.