In a sample of 187 ranking sites, 25.1% listed at least one sitemap URL that redirects, is gone or canonicalises elsewhere, and 4.6% of the 6,004 sitemap URLs we checked shouldn't have been listed.
Source: PageSpeed Matters. Up to 35 sitemap URLs per site checked live, Oct 2026.
Small sample of ranking sites; stores are mostly missing because store platforms blocked most checks.
Source: XML Sitemap Errors: 1 in 4 Sampled Sites List URLs Google Shouldn't Index - PageSpeed Matters