A sitemap page returns 404 or 410

Why it matters

Google asks for the URLs you want in its results to be listed in your sitemap, and it does not index addresses that answer with a 4xx error; 404 and 410 are treated the same way.

What to do

Look at the finding: it shows the sitemap entry, the status and, if the address redirected, where it ended.
If the page is gone for good, remove it from the sitemap; most sitemap plugins drop deleted pages on their own once the cache is cleared.
If it should exist, restore it, or redirect the old address permanently to its replacement and list the replacement instead.

What we read

We check the pages listed in your sitemap that our crawl fetched: it starts at your homepage and follows links, reserving every tenth page it fetches, up to 20, for sitemap addresses by default, within the audit's page limit. Redirects are followed, up to ten.

A listed page is reported only when its final answer is 404 or 410. Other answers, such as 401, 403, 429 or a server error, and addresses that gave no answer, are noted as not covered rather than reported.

Example & evidence

Illustrative example — one listed page, not a live audit.

https://bakery.example/sitemap.xml lists:

<url><loc>https://bakery.example/seasonal/pumpkin-pie</loc></url>

GET https://bakery.example/seasonal/pumpkin-pie
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

The listed page answers 404, so it is reported: Sitemap URL returns HTTP 404. If it had redirected to a page that answers 404, it would be reported as well, with the final address.

A possible correction: remove the <url> entry when the seasonal page is gone, or bring the page back so that it answers 200 OK.

Confirm & check again

Check for yourself: open the address from your sitemap in a browser; Search Console's Page indexing report lists submitted pages that return 404.

Check again: Full audit — run a new audit of the site. A restored page that still appears in the sitemap can be confirmed, but only when every sitemap is read in full and every page it lists is reached by the crawl and answers 200, 404 or 410. While the old address stays listed, a redirect that ends on 404 or 410 is reported again. Once it is out of the sitemap, a permanent redirect within your site closes the finding even if its destination answers 404, 410 or a server error, which then needs attention of its own; a destination that times out or gives no answer does not close it. Removing the address from the sitemap while it still answers 404 or 410 is not accepted as proof.

Limits & sources

Only the status code is read, so a page that shows a not-found message while answering 200 is not caught. Listed pages the crawl does not reach are not checked, and the check does not tell whether Google has already dropped the address.

Confidence: High because the 404 or 410 status is read directly.

Sources

Google, Build and submit a sitemap — asks you to include in your sitemap the URLs you want to see in Google's search results. Checked 25 September 2026.
Google, How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers — says Google does not index addresses that answer 4xx and treats every 4xx except 429 the same way. Checked 25 September 2026.

Editorial review: 29 September 2026

A listed address redirects — the listed address redirects; if it ends on a 404 or 410, both apply.
A listed address is blocked by robots.txt — the listed page cannot be fetched at all because robots.txt forbids it.
A sitemap cannot be fetched or read — the sitemap file itself fails, not a page it lists.

A listed page returns 404 or 410