When should this skill be used?

Use it when auditing an XML sitemap or diagnosing indexing issues, especially on sites where noindex meta tags or X-Robots-Tag headers may be applied to URLs also listed in the sitemap.

What kinds of sites does it apply to?

It applies to any site where noindex meta tags or X-Robots-Tag headers may be applied to URLs that are also listed in the sitemap.

Why is a noindex page in the sitemap a problem?

A sitemap suggests URLs for indexing, while a noindex tag or X-Robots-Tag header blocks indexing. Listing such URLs creates conflicting signals for search engines.

Noindex in Sitemap

SkillDev tools

noindex-in-sitemap is a skill for auditing an XML sitemap and diagnosing indexing issues. It checks whether pages blocked by noindex tags are wrongly listed in your XML sitemap, a conflict that can confuse search engines about which URLs to index.

Use Noindex in Sitemap in Claude, ChatGPT or Ahel Desktop

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Also: Claude Code · Cursor · Codex

Then ask your AI: use the Noindex in Sitemap skill

Details

Instructions available. Your AI can read the instructions. Execution depends on the setup they require.

Account requirements not reviewed. Check the skill instructions before use; ahel provides instructions and does not run this skill.

No other account needed.

Have access to the site's XML sitemap and the pages or responses it lists.

Noindex in SitemapStart free

What your AI can do with it

Audits an XML sitemap for indexing problems
Detects URLs listed in the sitemap that carry noindex meta tags
Detects URLs listed in the sitemap that send X-Robots-Tag noindex headers
Applies to any site where noindex directives may conflict with sitemap entries

Getting started

Have access to the site's XML sitemap and the pages or responses it lists.
Add the skill to your agent setup.
Ask the agent to audit the sitemap or diagnose an indexing issue.
Review the reported URLs where noindex tags or X-Robots-Tag headers conflict with sitemap listings.

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by thedaviddias/front-end-checklist in skills/noindex-in-sitemap/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Listing noindexed pages in your sitemap sends contradictory signals to Googlebot—it wastes crawl budget and may confuse Google into ignoring the noindex directive or spending crawl time on pages you don't want indexed.

Quick Reference

Never include noindexed pages in your XML sitemap
The sitemap and noindex directive send contradictory signals to crawlers
Sitemaps should only list canonical-url, indexable, 200-status URLs
Remove noindexed URLs from sitemap or remove the noindex directive—pick one

Check

Fetch the XML sitemap(s) and check each listed URL. For each URL, retrieve the page and check for in the or an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header. Report any URLs present in the sitemap that also carry a noindex directive.

Fix

For each URL that has a noindex directive AND appears in the sitemap: decide whether the page should be indexed. If yes — remove the noindex directive. If no — remove the URL from the sitemap. Never leave both in place.

Explain

The XML sitemap is a recommendation to search engines: 'please crawl and index these pages'. A noindex directive is an instruction: 'do not index this page'. Including noindexed pages in the sitemap creates a contradiction—Google will resolve it by following noindex, but the URL still gets crawled, wasting crawl budget.

Code Review

Fetch each URL in the XML sitemap. For each URL, check the HTTP response for X-Robots-Tag: noindex header, and check the rendered for . Report any URL that appears in the sitemap AND carries a noindex directive. Also check for sitemap entries returning non-200 status codes.

For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see references/rule.md.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/noindex-in-sitemap

Signals

GitHub stars: 74k
Forks: 7k
Last commit: Oct 2026

Questions

When should this skill be used?: Use it when auditing an XML sitemap or diagnosing indexing issues, especially on sites where noindex meta tags or X-Robots-Tag headers may be applied to URLs also listed in the sitemap.
What kinds of sites does it apply to?: It applies to any site where noindex meta tags or X-Robots-Tag headers may be applied to URLs that are also listed in the sitemap.
Why is a noindex page in the sitemap a problem?: A sitemap suggests URLs for indexing, while a noindex tag or X-Robots-Tag header blocks indexing. Listing such URLs creates conflicting signals for search engines.

Advanced

Item type: skill
Key: noindex-in-sitemap
Source: github.com/thedaviddias/front-end-checklist

github.com/thedaviddias/front-end-checklist