HTTP URLs in XML Sitemap

What This Means

The XML sitemap contains URLs using the http:// protocol for a site that serves content over https://. The sitemap is pointing crawlers to the non-canonical HTTP versions of pages.

Why It Matters for SEO

The XML sitemap signals to crawlers which URLs you want indexed. If the sitemap lists HTTP URLs but the pages redirect to HTTPS, crawlers must follow the redirect for every sitemap URL — wasting crawl budget on redirect hops. The canonical version (HTTPS) should be the URL listed in the sitemap, with no redirect required.

What the Platform Checks

The platform parses the XML sitemap and checks the URL scheme of each listed URL. Fires when any URL uses http:// in a sitemap for a site serving HTTPS.

How to Fix It

• Update all sitemap URLs to use https:// scheme.
• In CMS: check the site URL setting — ensure it is configured with https:// so sitemaps automatically generate HTTPS URLs.
• If using a custom sitemap generator: update the base URL to https://.
• After updating: resubmit the sitemap in Google Search Console.