58 checks in Technical SEO & Index Control. Automated Its subsection has a live automated checker in the engine.
| ID | Check | Passes when |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3.01 | Locate sitemap index file | Present |
| 5.3.02 | Validate sitemap index XML syntax | Valid |
| 5.3.03 | Validate all sitemap URLs return 200 | OK |
| 5.3.04 | Validate all sitemaps included in robots.txt | Yes |
| 5.3.05 | Validate total sitemap size < 50MB | Within limits |
| 5.3.06 | Validate <50,000 URLs per sitemap file | Within limits |
| 5.3.07 | Validate sitemap index lists all sub-sitemaps | Complete |
| 5.3.08 | Validate lastmod values present and correctly formatted | Correct |
| 5.3.09 | Validate protocol consistency (HTTPS only) | Enforced |
| 5.3.10 | Validate URL casing consistency | Clean |
| 5.3.11 | Validate no query parameters unless intentional | Minimal |
| 5.3.12 | Validate canonical URLs match sitemap URLs | Consistent |
| 5.3.13 | Detect orphan URLs (in sitemap but not crawlable) | None |
| 5.3.14 | Detect missing URLs (crawlable but not in sitemap) | Minimal |
| 5.3.15 | Validate sitemap freshness (<7 days old) | Updated |
| 5.3.16 | Validate no redirects in sitemap | None |
| 5.3.17 | Validate no 404s in sitemap | None |
| 5.3.18 | Validate no 500 errors in sitemap | None |
| 5.3.19 | Validate priority and changefreq usage removed or consistent | Clean |
| 5.3.20 | Validate multilingual hreflang sitemap (if exists) | Valid |
| 5.3.21 | Validate page sitemap includes all indexable pages | Complete |
| 5.3.22 | Validate no non-indexable URLs appear | None |
| 5.3.23 | Validate E-E-A-T pages included (About, Contact, Legal) | Yes |
| 5.3.24 | Validate service/location pages included | Yes |
| 5.3.25 | Validate image sitemap exists (where applicable) | Present |
| 5.3.26 | Validate <image:loc> per entry | Present |
| 5.3.27 | Validate image URLs return 200 | OK |
| 5.3.28 | Validate no duplicate image entries | Clean |
| 5.3.29 | Validate meaningful <image:title> / <image:caption> | Present |
| 5.3.30 | Validate video sitemap exists (if relevant) | Present |
| 5.3.31 | Validate <video:thumbnail_loc> present | Yes |
| 5.3.32 | Validate <video:title> and <video:description> | Present |
| 5.3.33 | Validate video URLs accessible | 200 |
| 5.3.34 | Validate news sitemap exists (news publishers) | Present |
| 5.3.35 | Validate only last 48h articles included | Correct |
| 5.3.36 | Validate publication name correct | Accurate |
| 5.3.37 | Validate local business sitemap exists (if local SEO) | Present |
| 5.3.38 | Validate NAP info included | Correct |
| 5.3.39 | Validate location pages included | Yes |
| 5.3.40 | Validate sitemap index links match actual files | Accurate |
| 5.3.41 | Validate sitemap index URLs use HTTPS | Yes |
| 5.3.42 | Validate no missing child sitemaps | Complete |
| 5.3.43 | Detect extra orphan sitemap files not referenced | None |
| 5.3.44 | Validate sitemaps compressed where large | .gz provided |
| 5.3.45 | Validate lastmod dates correlate with crawl discovery | Synced |
| 5.3.46 | Compute page sitemap coverage score | >= 95% |
| 5.3.47 | Compute image sitemap coverage score | >= 95% |
| 5.3.48 | Compute video sitemap coverage score | >= 90% |
| 5.3.49 | Compute local sitemap coverage score | >= 90% |
| 5.3.50 | Compute sitemap system composite score | >= 90% |
| 5.3.51 | Detect IndexNow API key file at well-known location (/{key}.txt or /.well-known/indexnow-key.txt) | Present and returns 200 with valid key string |
| 5.3.52 | Validate IndexNow key is a valid hex string (8-128 characters) | Matches ^[a-f0-9]{8,128}$ |
| 5.3.53 | Detect IndexNow submission endpoint configured (meta tag, HTTP header, or sitemap plugin) | At least one integration method detected |
| 5.3.54 | Validate IndexNow key file matches the key used in submission (cross-reference) | Consistent |
| 5.3.55 | Validate IndexNow key is not the default/example key from documentation | Not a known default |
| 5.3.56 | Detect IndexNow integration with CMS or sitemap plugin (WordPress IndexNow plugin, Yoast, RankMath, etc.) | Integration detected (where applicable) |
| 5.3.57 | Validate that recently-modified pages (lastmod within 7 days) correlate with IndexNow submission logs (where accessible via Bing Webmaster API) | >= 80% correlation |
| 5.3.58 | Compute IndexNow readiness composite score | >= 75% (key present + valid + integrated) |
← 5.2 Crawlability, Internal Graph Reachability & Link Discovery Suite5.4 Pagination, Parameter Handling & Faceted Navigation Suite →
A Deep Audit scores every check here that applies to your page, then an AI pass of up to 150 checks. Included on Pro and Ultra, or $9 for one audit.
See plansMachine-readable: catalog totals and the full catalog as JSON (IDs, section, weight, status).