Sitemap Monitor

What is the Sitemap Monitor?

The Sitemap Monitor in SEOTesting automatically tracks changes to your XML sitemaps, detecting pages that have been added, modified, or removed.
It's part of SEOTesting's Website Monitor - a low-touch set of tools that watch the files search engines read first, so you find out about important changes without having to check manually.

You can monitor your own sitemaps as well as your competitors' sitemaps, making the tool useful both for protecting your own site and for keeping track of what others in your space are publishing.

Why use the Sitemap Monitor?

Use the Sitemap Monitor to catch changes you'd otherwise miss e.g. a page accidentally dropped from your sitemap, a batch of new URLs published without your knowledge, or a competitor quietly rolling out a new content section - all of these are easy to overlook until the impact shows up in your traffic weeks later.

The tool is especially valuable for agencies, where clients don't always tell you when pages have been added, changed, or removed. Monitoring client sitemaps automatically means you're the first to know, not the last.

Common ways to use the Sitemap Monitor include:

• Protecting your own site - catch and address accidentally removed pages before they impact rankings.
• Agency and client work - monitor client sites for updates and issues without relying on the client to flag them.
• Competitive analysis - track competitors' sitemap updates to spot new content and shifts in their strategy.

How the Sitemap Monitor works

The Sitemap Monitor checks your XML sitemaps on a regular schedule and compares each check against the previous version to detect what has changed.

Where to find the Sitemap Monitor

Once you've selected the website you wish to view the report for (from the drop-down at the top of the Launchpad), navigate to left-hand menu and select 'Monitor'.

Once the page loads, select the 'Actions' button at the top-right, and then click on 'Add sitemap' from the drop-down:

Here you can enter the exact Sitemap URL you want to monitor, the frequency of monitoring (e.g. based on the importance of the site or competitor activity), and if you want to receive email alerts for pages added, removed, or modified.

Once you've completed all the fields, click 'Create'.

Reviewing detected changes

When the Sitemap Monitor detects a change, it shows you which pages have been added, modified, or removed since the previous check.
To view this in the app at any time, click on any of the sitemaps you have added and the overview will load up based on the frequency of monitoring you have selected:

*To change the date range to view, select the dates required, hit 'Update' and the Sitemap Monitor data will refresh for that time period.

Email notifications

You receive email notifications summarising sitemap changes, so you can act on them immediately without needing to log in and check.

Turning sitemap changes into action

When the monitor flags added or modified pages, those are often exactly the pages worth setting up an SEO test for - so you can measure the impact of the change rather than assume it. You can also use competitor sitemap changes as a source of new query and content ideas.

Updated on: 12/08/2026