Use when applies to sites that have recently migrated from HTTP to HTTPS, changed domain name, or have www/non-www redirect configurations. Use when sitemap submission reports low coverage.
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---
name: sitemap-domain
description: "Use when applies to sites that have recently migrated from HTTP to HTTPS, changed domain name, or have www/non-www redirect configurations. Use when sitemap submission reports low coverage."
metadata:
category: seo
priority: medium
difficulty: beginner
estimatedTime: "10"
source: frontendchecklist.io
url: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/seo/sitemap-domain
---
# Keep sitemap URLs on the correct domain
Google ignores sitemap entries from domains it cannot verify as yours — cross-domain URLs are simply skipped, meaning those pages lose the crawl-discovery benefit of the sitemap.
## Quick Reference
- Every `<loc>` URL must use the same domain and protocol (`https://www.example.com`) as the sitemap file itself
- Cross-domain URLs in a sitemap are ignored by Google
- Mixing `http://` and `https://` URLs in one sitemap creates conflicting signals
- Mixing `www` and non-`www` variants indicates a canonicalization issue to fix first
## Check
Parse all `<loc>` values in the sitemap and extract the protocol and hostname. Flag any URL whose protocol or hostname differs from the sitemap's own URL. Common mismatches: http vs https, www vs non-www, old domain vs new domain.
## Fix
Update all `<loc>` URLs to use the canonical-url protocol and hostname. If the site is on `https://www.example.com`, every sitemap URL must start with `https://www.example.com/`. Regenerate and resubmit the sitemap.
## Explain
Explain why Google restricts sitemap URLs to the same domain, how cross-domain URLs are silently dropped, and how domain mismatches in a sitemap reveal underlying canonicalization problems.
## Code Review
Review metadata generation, rendered HTML, structured data, and response headers related to Keep sitemap URLs on the correct domain. Flag exact routes or templates where search-facing output violates the rule, and describe how to verify the final page output.
---
For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see `references/rule.md`.
Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/seo/sitemap-domain
