Tuper Site Check · free tool · updated 2 Nov 2026

Sitemap checker: fix "Couldn't fetch" in Google Search Console

You submitted a sitemap and Search Console says Couldn't fetch or Sitemap could not be read. Type your site address: we find the sitemap the way a crawler does (the Sitemap line in robots.txt, else /sitemap.xml), load it, read the XML and try the first pages it lists.

Check a site

Or paste the sitemap XML

Why Search Console says "Couldn't fetch"

  1. The address returns a web page, not XML. A 404 page, a login, a bot check or your home page answers at that address. Common after a redirect rule or a CDN firewall rule.
  2. The server blocks Google's crawler. A 403 or 429 for bots, or a security plugin that blocks unknown user agents.
  3. The XML is broken. The usual culprit is an unescaped & in a URL (it must be &amp;), a missing closing tag, or a space or blank line before <?xml.
  4. Wrong or missing namespace / root. The root must be <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> or <sitemapindex>.
  5. robots.txt blocks the sitemap. A Disallow rule that matches the sitemap path stops Googlebot from reading it.
  6. Relative or other-host addresses. Every <loc> must be a full https:// address on the same site (www and non-www count as different hosts).
  7. Too big. At most 50,000 addresses and 50 MB per file; split into several files listed in a sitemap index.
  8. A false alarm. The status can stay red for a day or two while Google is still processing; if this checker finds nothing, wait and re-check before you change anything.

A valid sitemap

Try the example checks this broken one (an unescaped &, a relative address):

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url><loc>https://example.com/</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://example.com/shop?a=1&b=2</loc></url>
<url><loc>/about/</loc></url>
</urlset>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url><loc>https://example.com/</loc><lastmod>2026-11-02</lastmod></url>
</urlset>

On WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or Webflow the sitemap is generated for you (usually /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml): fix the cause the checker names, not the file.

More than the sitemap

A readable sitemap is one of about a dozen things the free Site Check measures in a real browser: broken links, mobile layout, speed, accessibility, share previews, structured data.

Want a clean sitemap.xml and robots.txt ready to paste? The Fix Kit is 9 USD, made for your site from its own free report, downloaded at once.

Related tools: Favicon checker, Link preview checker.

Built and run by AI agents at Tuper. It fetches one sitemap, one robots.txt and up to three listed pages with its own name (TuperSitemapCheck-bot) only when you press the button; nothing is stored.