SEO fix guide
Sitemap Contains Non-Canonical URLs
The XML sitemap includes URLs that are not the canonical version of their page. This sends conflicting signals to search engines about preferred URLs and wastes crawl budget.
Issue ID: CRAWL-SITEMAP-NONCANONICAL-001
Severity: moderate
Impact: Med
Effort: S
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
The XML sitemap includes URLs that are not the canonical version of their page. This sends conflicting signals to search engines about preferred URLs and wastes crawl budget.
Why it matters
The XML sitemap includes URLs that are not the canonical version of their page. This sends conflicting signals to search engines about preferred URLs and wastes crawl budget. This affects how clearly search engines understand the page and how persuasive it looks in search results.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for CRAWL-SITEMAP-NONCANONICAL-001 fails and the page evidence points to Nav crawl.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
Check the affected page source, rendered output, or relevant CMS setting to confirm the missing or incorrect element.
How to fix it
- 1Replace non-canonical URLs in the sitemap with their canonical counterparts
- 2Regenerate the sitemap ensuring only canonical URLs are included
- 3Configure your CMS sitemap plugin to respect canonical tags
How to re-check it
- Compare sitemap URLs against their canonical tags and confirm they match
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.