Your XML sitemap tells search engines which pages to crawl, and your robots.txt tells them where they can and can't go. A small mistake in either — a stray disallow, an accidental noindex, or a missing sitemap — can quietly keep your pages out of Google.
This checker inspects both files, confirms your sitemap is valid and referenced correctly, and flags rules that could be blocking important pages.
Two small files quietly control how Google sees your entire site. Your XML sitemap is a map that lists the pages you want crawled and when they last changed. Your robots.txt is a gatekeeper that tells crawlers where they may and may not go. Get either wrong and pages can silently vanish from search — with no error message to warn you.
This checker inspects both files together, because they work as a pair: the sitemap invites crawlers in, and robots.txt must not accidentally lock them out.
The classic disaster is a 'Disallow: /' left over from a development or staging environment, which blocks the entire site from being crawled. Almost as common is confusing 'disallow' (don't crawl) with 'noindex' (don't index) — a page blocked in robots.txt can still show a bare URL in results, while a noindex page is dropped entirely.
This checker specifically hunts for these traps, because a single wrong line can undo all your other SEO work.
Keep robots.txt minimal: block only genuinely private areas (admin, checkout, internal endpoints) and never your content. Make sure your SEO plugin is generating a fresh XML sitemap, reference it in robots.txt, and submit it in Google Search Console.
After fixing any issues here, use Search Console's URL Inspection to confirm your key pages are crawlable and indexable — then let Google recrawl.
It gives crawlers rules about which parts of your site they may request. A misplaced 'Disallow' can accidentally block pages from being crawled.
Yes — it helps search engines discover and prioritize your pages, especially on larger sites. Most SEO plugins generate one automatically.
Disallow blocks crawling; noindex blocks indexing. Confusing the two is a common reason pages don't appear in Google — this check catches it.
Referencing your sitemap URL in robots.txt helps crawlers find it quickly. The checker confirms whether it's linked.
Add it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps, and reference it in robots.txt. This checker makes sure the sitemap is valid first so submission actually works.
Very possibly. A single stray Disallow line, or a noindex left from staging, can keep whole sections out of Google. This is one of the first things this check looks for.