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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
  • Identify incorrect URLs via SEMRush and check if they are broken links, redirects, unpublished, or protected pages.
  • In Webflow, verify page publication status, slug accuracy, and SEO settings to ensure correct sitemap inclusion.
  • Update sitemap settings in Project Settings by unpublishing or hiding outdated pages, then republish the site.
  • Resubmit the updated sitemap to Google Search Console and SEMRush, and verify changes manually or using a crawler.
  • Ensure redirected URLs are excluded from the sitemap by adjusting 301 redirects and page visibility settings.

If SEMRush reports "4 incorrect pages found" in your sitemap.xml for your Webflow project, you can address it directly by inspecting and fixing your sitemap settings and page configurations.

1. Check Which Pages Are Incorrect

  • Log into SEMRush and navigate to the Site Audit report where the sitemap issue appears.
  • Locate the section where the exact URLs of the "incorrect pages" are listed.
  • Take note of whether they are (a) broken links (404s), (b) redirecting URLs (301s or 302s), (c) password-protected pages, or (d) unpublished/draft pages.

2. Investigate the Pages in Webflow

  • Open your Webflow Designer.
  • Go to Pages Panel to find the pages matching the incorrect URLs.
  • For each problematic page:
  • Check Page Status: Ensure the page is published and not set to draft or password-protected unintentionally.
  • Check Custom Slugs: Confirm that slugs are correct and match exactly, especially with letter casing (Webflow URLs are case-sensitive).
  • Check Page Settings → SEO Settings: See if the page is inadvertently set to "Hide page from search engines."

3. Adjust Sitemap Settings

  • Go to Project Settings → SEO Tab.
  • Scroll down to Auto-generate Sitemap.
  • Confirm if the checkbox is enabled ("Include Collection Pages" and individual static pages).
  • If the sitemap includes old pages no longer in use:
  • Unpublish the pages.
  • Or, set them to "Hide from sitemap" by unchecking "Indexing" on page settings.

If needed, you can delete the old sitemap manually and regenerate it.

4. Force Sitemap Update

  • If you made changes, publish your site again to force Webflow to regenerate the sitemap.
  • Then Resubmit sitemap.xml to Google Search Console and SEMRush through their tools.

Note: Webflow automatically updates sitemap.xml upon Publish, but external tools might cache the previous version for a few days.

5. Use Crawl Tools to Confirm

  • After you publish, manually visit your sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
  • Check if the incorrect pages are still there.
  • You can use tools like Screaming Frog or even SEMRush itself to crawl the updated sitemap.

6. Handle Potential Redirects

  • If problematic pages are redirects (301 or 302), Webflow may still list the old URL.
  • Go to Project Settings → Hosting → 301 Redirects.
  • Ensure that any redirected page's old URL is excluded from sitemap by either adjusting page visibility or handling sitemap generation manually.

Summary

To fix incorrect pages reported in your Webflow sitemap.xml: (1) identify the problematic URLs via SEMRush, (2) correct their publish settings or sitemap inclusion in Webflow, (3) republish and resubmit the sitemap. Always manually verify that yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml no longer lists obsolete or broken links after changes.

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