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XML Sitemap Checker

Validate an XML sitemap or sitemap index and list its URLs.

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs of a website you want search engines to crawl, optionally with last-modified dates. Large sites split them into several sitemaps grouped by a sitemap index file.

What the checker validates

  • Well-formed XML — one unclosed tag or unescaped & makes the whole file unreadable; we show the line of the first error.
  • Type — a <urlset> (list of pages) or a <sitemapindex> (list of sitemaps).
  • Limits — at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Gzipped (.xml.gz) files are supported.
  • Single host — every URL should be on the same host as the sitemap.
  • URL list with lastmod, changefreq and priority (first 1,000 shown).

If you enter a website instead of a sitemap URL, we try /sitemap.xml.

Sitemap best practices

  1. Only canonical, indexable 200 URLs. No redirects, 404s, noindex pages or parameter duplicates — they waste crawl budget and reduce trust in the file.
  2. Accurate lastmod. Google uses lastmod when it is consistently correct; it ignores changefreq and priority.
  3. Submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and reference it in robots.txt with a Sitemap: line.
  4. Split by type (posts, products, categories) so Search Console shows indexing per section.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url><loc>https://example.com/</loc><lastmod>2026-10-01</lastmod></url>
</urlset>

Next steps

Copy the URL list into the HTTP Status Code Checker to find redirects and 404s, check the robots.txt reference with the Robots.txt Checker, and confirm canonicals with the Canonical URL Checker.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if my sitemap is valid?

Enter the sitemap URL (or your domain). The checker parses the XML, reports errors with line numbers and validates URL count, size and hosts.

How many URLs can a sitemap have?

Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. Larger sites use several sitemaps listed in a sitemap index.

Does Google use priority and changefreq?

No. Google ignores both. It uses lastmod when the dates are consistently accurate.

Should redirected URLs be in my sitemap?

No. List only final, canonical URLs that return 200 and are indexable.

Where should my sitemap be located?

Usually at /sitemap.xml, but any location works if you submit it in Search Console and reference it in robots.txt.