Audit rules

Sitemap Not Declared in robots.txt

robots.txt exists but has no Sitemap: line. Declaring the sitemap there lets every crawler find it; a sitemap submitted in Search Console works for Google as well, and QuikSEO cannot see that submission. In a QuikSEO audit, a failure has info severity and counts against the score. The exact condition, its exceptions and its sources follow below.

01 — Definition

How This Rule Is Checked

The rule is a pure function of the fetched page: no extra requests, no account settings. The same input always gives the same result.

Rule Severity and Score

Rule id: indexing.sitemap_not_declared
Group: Indexing
Severity of a failure: Info
Counts in the score: Yes, whenever it applies to the page
Required for a score: No

Condition and Exceptions

Condition: Probe robots: 2xx file without a Sitemap: line → review (a sitemap submitted in Search Console is invisible to QuikSEO)
Exceptions: robots.txt 404/410 → not_applicable (indexing.robots_txt_missing); no probe, unreadable file, HTML mode → not_checked

Sources and Project Decision

Sources: Build and Submit a Sitemap (Google Search Central, Q04)
How Google Interprets the robots.txt Specification (Google for Developers, S14)
Project decision: Review only (lot 2): Google also accepts a sitemap submitted in Search Console, which QuikSEO cannot see (Q04).

02 — Indexing

Other Rules in This Group

The other checks of the same group, each with its own condition and sources.

Contradictory Robots Directivesindexing.contradictory_directives
llms.txt Fileindexing.llms_txt
Links Not Followedindexing.nofollow_page
Images Blocked From Indexingindexing.noimageindex
Page Blocked From Indexingindexing.noindex
Blocked by robots.txtindexing.robots_txt_blocked
robots.txt Missingindexing.robots_txt_missing
Not Indexed in Search Consoleindexing.search_console
Soft 404indexing.soft_404