Comparison

After a Deep Scan, the Coverage tab of the Sitemap Workbench cross-references the URLs your sitemaps declare against the URLs the crawl actually found. The comparison reveals gaps in both directions and feeds the coverage layer of the sitemap score.

• Sitemap vs crawl — the categories every URL falls into
• Missing pages — crawled but not in the sitemap
• Orphan pages — in the sitemap but not reached in the available crawl
• Broken links — URLs returning errors
• Redirect chains — URLs that redirect more than once

Comparison needs both a sitemap scan and a completed crawl. Without a crawl, the Coverage tab explains that coverage cannot be evaluated and you should read sitemap findings within that evidence limit.

Use comparison as a review list

Resolve response errors first, then assess inclusion and linking intent. The sitemap and crawl can describe different scopes or dates. Keep findings qualified by the available evidence and avoid presenting a count as a complete website audit. Start with Pages evidence if canonical, noindex or robots restrictions are involved.