Compare XML Sitemap Snapshots in Apify | Added/Removed URLs

Compare XML Sitemap Snapshots in Apify — Added/Removed URLs Report

Instantly compare two complete, saved XML sitemap snapshots (same scope, before vs. after a release) and get a clear report of added, removed, and metadata-changed URLs—without fetching any sitemaps or page URLs.

What this workflow does

This n8n automation runs an Apify actor to diff two XML urlset snapshots and produce an audit-ready comparison:

• Starts on manual trigger and verifies the provided XML strings are nonempty.
• Validates snapshot constraints, including the 2,000,000 UTF-8 byte limit per snapshot, and rejects prohibited DTD/custom entities.
• Checks the urlset structure and ensures the 5,000-entry limit.
• If existingRunId is set, it reads the selected existing Apify run; otherwise it starts one capped run of ecomopskits/sitemap-snapshot-diff with the supplied XML pair.
• Polls the same Apify run until it finishes successfully, or stops with an error if it fails or exceeds allowed checks.
• Confirms both XML strings exactly match the snapshots tied to the chosen run before accepting results.
• Reads Apify run INPUT, SUMMARY, and the result dataset, then outputs final counts and per-URL changes (including unchanged totals).

Use cases

• Verify SEO impact after a deployment by identifying which URLs were added or removed.
• Monitor CMS migrations by detecting sitemap metadata changes (e.g., attributes reflected in the snapshot).
• Run change reviews for SaaS website operators who need deterministic sitemap diffing before/after releases.

Technical details

• Apify integration: Requires HTTP Header Auth (Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN).
• n8n nodes: if, set, code, sticky note, HTTP Request, manual trigger.
• Core output: counts of added/removed/metadata-changed plus unchanged URLs and per-URL change details.
• Important: No sitemap/page URLs are fetched—only the provided XML snapshot strings are compared.