URLs
The Sitemap Monitoring URLs tab lists every URL in your sitemaps, with broken, not indexed and not visited URLs, and a panel with each URL's history.
The URLs tab of Sitemap Monitoring lists every URL that your sitemaps list. For each URL, it shows what the VitalSentinel crawl, Google and Googlebot say about it. A sitemap should list only pages that load and can be indexed, so use this tab to find the URLs to fix or to remove.
Before you start
Open Sitemap Monitoring in the sidebar and select the URLs tab. The tab shows after the first daily check. The views and columns that need another module show only when that module has data. See Data from other modules.
Views
The tiles above the table of the Sitemap Monitoring URLs tab select a view. Each tile shows how many URLs the view holds:
| View | What it shows | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| All URLs | Every URL your sitemaps list. | Nothing |
| Broken or redirected | URLs that the last check found redirected, missing, failing or set to noindex. The note says how many were checked. | Site Health Monitoring |
| Sitemap URLs not in Google | Sitemap URLs that Google inspected and left out of its index, with Google's reason. | Indexing Monitoring |
| Not visited yet | URLs added to your sitemaps in the last 30 days that Googlebot has not requested since. | Server Log Monitoring |
If a view needs a module that has no data, its tile shows what it needs, for example Needs Indexing Monitoring. Indexing Monitoring counts every page it checks, not only the sitemap URLs, so its numbers differ from Sitemap URLs not in Google.
Empty views
- "On our last check no URL in your sitemaps was broken, redirected or set to noindex"
- "Google has indexed every URL it inspected"
- "Googlebot has visited every URL added to your sitemaps in the last 30 days"
- "No URLs match these filters": remove a filter.
The URLs table
Each row of the Sitemap Monitoring URLs table is one URL. A column shows only when its source has data.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| URL | The address. |
| Sitemap file | The file that lists the URL. Shows on wide screens. |
| Our crawl | What the VitalSentinel crawl found, for example a redirect, a 404 or Noindex. Hover it for the date and the redirect target. |
| In Google's index | Indexed, Google's short reason, for example Crawled, not indexed or Found, not crawled, or Not inspected. |
| Googlebot visit | The date of Googlebot's last visit, or "No visit in the logs we have". |
| Google clicks | Clicks from Google Search over the Search Console window that the header names. |
Some URLs show a chip after the address:
- Held – file not read: its sitemap could not be read at the last check, so it is kept and not counted as removed.
- Canonical elsewhere: the page's canonical points to another address. Hover it to see the address. List the canonical address in your sitemap instead.
Use the filter bar at the bottom of the screen to find URLs by address, sitemap file or status. Click a column header to sort. Click a row to open the URL panel.
The URL panel
Click a URL in the URLs tab, or in What changed on the Overview, to open its panel. The header shows the address, a link to open the page in a new tab, and a one-sentence verdict. The panel has two sections.
Where this URL stands
This section of the Sitemap Monitoring URL panel follows the path of the URL from your sitemap to the search results. Each step shows the answer of one module:
| Step | What it shows |
|---|---|
| In your sitemaps | The sitemap files that list the URL, or "No longer listed in a sitemap". |
| robots.txt | If your robots.txt allows the page. Link: Open in robots.txt Monitoring. |
| Our check | The last known status from the VitalSentinel crawl, the canonical and the redirect. |
| Google's index | Google's last answer. Link: Open in Indexing Monitoring. |
| Googlebot | Googlebot's last visit. Link: Open in Server Log Monitoring. |
| Search results | The Google clicks, or "No click data for this URL". |
If a module has no answer yet, the step says so, for example "Google has not inspected this URL yet".
History
The History section lists every change of the URL in your sitemaps: when it was added, removed, came back, or got a new date. The newest change is first.
Troubleshooting
Why is the Broken or redirected view empty?
The view needs Site Health Monitoring. If the tile shows Needs Site Health Monitoring, Site Health Monitoring did not check any page of this site yet. Verify the domain so that Site Health Monitoring can start. See Verify ownership.
What do I do with a broken URL in my sitemap?
Fix the page, or remove the URL from your sitemap. For a redirect, list the target address instead. For a noindex page, remove it from the sitemap, or remove the noindex if the page must be in Google.
Why does Not visited yet show Needs Server Log Monitoring?
The view needs your server logs to see Googlebot's visits. See Connect server logs.
Related
- Overview - the size chart and what changed between checks
- Files - every sitemap file and its limits
- Indexing Monitoring - why Google left out a sitemap URL
- Server Log Monitoring - Googlebot's visits to your pages
- Site Health Monitoring - the checks that find broken and redirected URLs
Overview
Sitemap Monitoring reads your XML sitemaps every day, shows how many URLs they list, and tells you which URLs were added, removed or updated.
Files
The Sitemap Monitoring Files tab lists every sitemap file with its status, URL count and Googlebot reads, and checks each file against the official sitemap limits.
