"No referring sitemaps detected": what it means and how to fix it

What it means

The Sitemaps line lists the sitemaps that point to this page. Google only counts sitemaps you submitted in the Sitemaps report or listed in your robots.txt file.

"No referring sitemaps detected" means Google found no such sitemap for this page. Google's help calls this "No referring sitemap".

It is not always right. Google's help lists a known issue: in a few cases, the tool does not report the sitemap for a page that was in one. The API reference also says the list may be incomplete, especially when Google found the page another way.

Together with "Referring page: None detected", it means the tool can't show how Google found the page. It does not mean Google has no way to find it.

Where it shows: Page indexing > Discovery > Sitemaps.

Common causes

1. The page is not in your sitemap. Many sitemap tools leave out some kinds of pages.
2. The sitemap lists a different version of the address: http instead of https, www instead of no www, or with or without the slash at the end.
3. The sitemap is not submitted in Search Console and not listed in robots.txt, so this line does not count it.
4. Google has not read your latest sitemap yet.
5. The page is in a submitted sitemap, and the tool did not report it: the known issue.

How to check which cause applies

1. Open your sitemap and search for the exact address, character for character.
2. Open Indexing > Sitemaps in Search Console. Check that the sitemap is listed, its Status is Success, and the Last read date is after you added the page.
3. In the Page indexing report, filter by that sitemap and look for the page.
4. Check the robots.txt file for a Sitemap: line if you did not submit the sitemap in Search Console.

How to fix it

1. Add the page to your sitemap, with the exact address you want on Google.
2. Submit the sitemap in Indexing > Sitemaps, or add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt.
3. Keep each page's lastmod date correct, so Google knows when it changed.
4. Inspect the page again after Google reads the sitemap. If the page is listed and Google has read the sitemap, you can ignore the message.

When you can ignore it

The page is on Google, it is in a submitted sitemap, and Google has read that sitemap since you added it. Then the message is the known reporting gap.

With CrawlCoach

CrawlCoach reads your sitemaps itself and checks the pages in them with Google. On paid plans, its fix list also finds pages that get clicks from search but are missing from your sitemap. Google makes the final call on what it indexes.

Related Page indexing reasons

• Indexed, not submitted in sitemap: The page is on Google, but it is missing from your sitemap.
• URL is unknown to Google: Google has not found this page anywhere yet.
• Discovered - currently not indexed: Google knows the page exists but has not visited it yet.

Questions

Sources

Checked on October 8, 2026. Google can change its tools and wording after that date.

• Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool
• Search Console API: UrlInspectionResult
• Search Console Help: Sitemaps report
• Google Search Central: Build and submit a sitemap