Fix Broken Sitemap URLs That Are Killing Your Indexing
If your sitemap has URLs that return 404 or 500 errors, Google may ignore those pages—or worse, deprioritize your entire sitemap. Extract the sitemap URLs and bulk scan them using a tool like SEO Media World’s Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker to find and fix broken links fast.
Google Says My Pages Are Indexed — But Traffic Is Dropping
Let me guess. You’re digging through Search Console trying to figure out why half your pages aren’t ranking. And then it hits you — there’s a pattern.
Every time Googlebot tries crawling your sitemap, it hits broken URLs. Some return 404 Not Found, others throw 500 Server Errors, and a few redirect endlessly like a funhouse mirror.
The result? Google loses trust in your sitemap. And that trust is hard to win back.
Why Broken Sitemap Links Kill SEO — Even If You Have Great Content
Here’s what’s actually happening behind the scenes:
| Issue | How It Hurts You |
|---|---|
| 404 errors | Google thinks the page doesn’t exist anymore |
| 500 errors | Server looks unstable or misconfigured |
| Redirect chains | Crawl budget gets wasted |
| Timeout or dead links | Googlebot drops off before reaching your content |
Google treats your sitemap like a map of what you think is important. If it’s full of junk, you’re signaling that your site might not be worth its crawl budget.
That’s why cleaning up sitemap URLs is not optional — it’s urgent.
Step 1: Extract All URLs from Your Sitemap
Before you fix anything, you need to see what you’re working with.
Most sitemaps follow the sitemap.xml format. You can:
- Open
yoursite.com/sitemap.xmland copy the list manually (not fun). - Or use tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb (but they’re overkill for this task).
- Or just extract the list using a browser extension or basic curl command.
Keep it simple: If you can get the full list of URLs as a text file or CSV — that’s perfect.
Step 2: Bulk Scan for Broken Status Codes
Now the magic part.
Take your list of sitemap URLs and run them through this tool: Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker
This tool scans hundreds of URLs at once and shows their current HTTP status codes, such as:
- ✅ 200 OK
- 🔁 301/302 Redirect
- ❌ 404 Not Found
- 🚫 500 Server Error
You instantly spot which links are trashing your indexing and which are fine.
No signups. No fluff. Just results.
Step 3: Prioritize What to Fix
Here’s your cheat sheet for fixing broken sitemap URLs:
| Status Code | Action to Take |
|---|---|
| 404 | Remove from sitemap or set up a redirect |
| 500 | Check server config or remove from sitemap |
| 301/302 | Consider replacing with the final URL |
| Timeout | Check for hosting or DNS issues |
Not every fix is hard. Some are just outdated slugs from content you deleted a year ago.
But the faster you fix them, the faster Google re-crawls your cleaned-up sitemap.
Real Example: The “Invisible Page” Problem
One of our users had over 2,000 URLs in their sitemap. But Google only indexed about 900.
Turns out, over 700 links returned 404s because the CMS auto-generated URLs for draft pages never published.
Google still crawled them, flagged the site as inconsistent, and eventually ignored new additions to the sitemap.
Once the broken URLs were removed and the sitemap resubmitted, crawl activity bounced back in 48 hours.
Why Manual Checking Doesn’t Cut It
Let’s be real. You can’t check 500 URLs one by one in your browser.
Most SEOs rely on tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs — but they require setup, licensing, and time.
With SEO Media World’s Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker, you just paste your URLs and see results. That’s it.
You don’t need to be technical. You just need to be fast.
Final Checklist: Is Your Sitemap Costing You Rankings?
Here’s what to look for in your next sitemap cleanup:
- All URLs return 200 OK
- No 404s, 410s, or 500 errors
- Redirects replaced with final destination
- Server response time is under 1 second
- Sitemap submitted again in Search Console after cleanup
Fixing these issues now could save your domain’s crawl budget for the next few months.
Your Sitemap Is Not a Set-It-and-Forget-It File
Search engines treat your sitemap like a promise. If it’s full of broken or misleading links, they’ll trust you less.
Don’t waste your crawl budget. Don’t sabotage your indexing.
And definitely don’t assume everything is fine because you submitted your sitemap once.
Scan your sitemap URLs today with this free HTTP status code checker and find out what Google’s seeing that you’re not.