How can I troubleshoot the issue of 4 incorrect pages found in the sitemap.xml of my Webflow project, which is being reported by SEMRush?
TL;DR
- Use SEMRush to identify problematic sitemap URLs and check for 404s, redirects, or restricted access.
- Verify pages in Webflow are published, properly configured in SEO settings, not blocked in robots.txt or redirects, then regenerate and resubmit your sitemap.
If SEMRush reports 4 incorrect pages in your sitemap.xml from a Webflow project, it typically means those pages are either broken, redirecting, or restricted from crawling. Here’s how to troubleshoot that.
1. Identify the Problematic URLs
- Log in to SEMRush, go to Site Audit, and review the "Issues" section.
- Locate the specific URLs marked as incorrect in the sitemap.
- Note whether SEMRush provides details such as 4xx errors, 3xx redirects, or blocked pages.
2. Manually Check the URLs
- Open each of the 4 URLs in your browser to test if they:
- Return a 404 error (Page Not Found),
- Redirect to another page,
- Require authentication or are otherwise inaccessible.
3. Check Webflow Page Settings
- In Webflow Designer, go to the Pages panel and locate each problematic page.
- For each:
- Confirm it's published.
- Check if “Disable this page in sitemap” is unchecked (under Page Settings > SEO Settings).
- Check the Slug and ensure it matches what’s listed in sitemap.xml.
4. Review CMS Collection URLs
- If the incorrect URLs are from CMS items:
- Open the Collection, and verify those items exist and are published.
- Draft or deleted items should not appear in the sitemap. If they do, go to Project Settings > SEO, then refresh your sitemap manually by toggling on/off sitemap generation.
5. Robots.txt and Meta Robots Conflicts
- Go to Project Settings > SEO and review your robots.txt file.
- Make sure the listed URLs are not disallowed for crawling.
- Also check if these pages use custom meta tags like
noindex(via Page Settings > SEO Settings or using a<meta>tag under Page Settings > Custom Code).
6. Check Redirects
- Go to Project Settings > Hosting and scroll to “301 Redirects.”
- Ensure these pages aren’t unintentionally set to redirect to other URLs, which would make them invalid in the sitemap.
7. Regenerate Sitemap
- After making fixes, republish the site and regenerate the sitemap:
- Toggle “Auto-generate Sitemap” off and on again in Project Settings > SEO.
- Or manually submit the new sitemap URL (
yoursite.com/sitemap.xml) to Google Search Console and re-run the SEMRush audit.
Summary
To fix incorrect pages in your Webflow sitemap, identify the exact failing URLs via SEMRush, ensure they exist and are accessible in Webflow, check for publish status, correct redirects or 404s, and regenerate your sitemap. Then, monitor SEMRush for updated results after a fresh crawl.