# Stopped at the limit

Updated October 24, 2026.

mttr reads at most 100 pages of a site. When a site has more, the read stops there, and the report says so and holds back what it cannot know.

## What happens when a site has more pages than mttr reads?

The read stops at 100 pages, and every figure in the report is for those pages. The report carries a Stopped at the limit badge and holds back what it cannot know, such as pages no link leads to, since a page the read did not reach looks the same as one nothing links to.

## Which pages are read

The home page first, then every page the sitemap lists, then the pages those link to, until 100 have been read. A site with a full sitemap is read in the order its sitemap gives.

## What is held back

| What | After a read that stopped | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pages no link leads to | Not reported | A page the read did not reach looks the same as a page nothing links to |
| Subjects the site does not cover | Not reported | A subject may be covered on a page that was not read |
| Clicks from the home page | Reported for the pages read | May be fewer than the truth on a deep site |

## Making the most of a read that stops

- List the pages that matter in the sitemap. The read takes the sitemap’s pages before the pages they link to.
- Keep pages that should not rank out of the sitemap, such as tag lists and search results, so they do not take the place of pages that should.
- Fix what fails on the pages read. A rule that fails on a shared template fails on every page built from it, read or not.

> **How to tell.** The report carries a Stopped at the limit badge, and the brief says it covers part of the site. Every other figure is for the pages that were read.

## Sources

- [Sitemaps XML format](https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html), sitemaps.org: The sitemap format, which lists the pages a site wants read.