Free Sitemap Validator

Check your XML sitemap for errors, warnings, and compliance with search engine guidelines.

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What We Check

Technical validation and SEO best practices in one scan

Technical Validation

XML Structure

Valid syntax, encoding, root element

Namespace

Sitemaps.org namespace declaration

URL Limits

Max 50,000 URLs, 50MB file size

Date Formats

W3C/ISO 8601 lastmod validation

Optional Tags

Priority and changefreq values

URL Format

Valid URL syntax check

SEO & Best Practices

Duplicate Detection

Exact duplicates and trailing slash variants

HTTPS Consistency

Mixed HTTP/HTTPS detection

WWW Consistency

Mixed www/non-www detection

Content Freshness

Oldest pages and stale content

Future Dates

Lastmod dates set in the future

Sensitive URLs

Admin, login, and internal pages

External URLs

URLs pointing to other domains

Query Parameters

URLs with ?params that may duplicate

URL Depth

Deep URLs that may be hard to crawl

Why Validate Your Sitemap?

Better Crawling

A valid sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

Catch Errors Early

Find XML errors, broken URLs, and formatting issues before submitting to Google Search Console.

Improve SEO

Proper sitemaps ensure search engines can access all your important pages.

Fresh Content

Correct lastmod dates help search engines prioritize crawling updated content.

How to Validate a Sitemap.xml File

Verified against the sitemaps.org protocol spec on 2026-07-20.

Locate your sitemap URL. Most sites expose it at /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml. Check your robots.txt for a Sitemap: directive if you are unsure.
Fetch and parse the XML. A valid sitemap must be well-formed XML with the <urlset> root element and the correct namespace declaration http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9.
Check the required tags. Per the sitemaps.org spec, only <loc> is required inside each <url>. Everything else (<lastmod>, <changefreq>, <priority>) is optional.
Verify the size limits. A single sitemap file must contain no more than 50,000 URLs and must be under 50MB (52,428,800 bytes) uncompressed. If you exceed either, split into multiple files behind a sitemap index.
Validate URL and date formats. Every <loc> must be an absolute URL under 2,048 characters. <lastmod> must use W3C / ISO 8601 date format (e.g. 2026-07-20 or 2026-07-20T14:30:00Z).
Submit to Google Search Console. Once validation passes, add the sitemap URL under Sitemaps in Search Console. Track the "Discovered" and "Indexed" counts weekly.

The validator above runs every one of these checks automatically. Paste your sitemap URL and it reports errors, warnings, and metadata coverage in one scan.

Common Sitemap Validation Errors (and How to Fix Them)

Invalid XML syntax

Missing closing tags, unescaped ampersands, or invalid characters break the parser. Fix: escape & as &, close every tag, save as UTF-8 without BOM.

Exceeds 50,000 URL limit

A single sitemap file cannot list more than 50,000 URLs. Fix: split into multiple sitemap files and reference them from a sitemap index file.

File exceeds 50MB

The uncompressed size limit is 52,428,800 bytes. Fix: split into smaller sitemaps by section, or gzip the file (the uncompressed content still must fit under 50MB).

Missing namespace declaration

The <urlset> element must declare the sitemaps.org namespace. Fix: use <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">.

Invalid lastmod date format

Common wrong formats: 20/07/2026, 2026-7-20, or plain-text dates. Fix: use W3C / ISO 8601, e.g. 2026-07-20.

Priority out of range

The <priority> value must be between 0.0 and 1.0. Fix: any other value is silently ignored by Google, but validators will flag it. Note that Google largely ignores this tag anyway.

URL not absolute

Every <loc> must be an absolute URL including protocol and host. Fix: replace relative paths like /blog/post with https://example.com/blog/post.

URL exceeds 2,048 characters

The sitemaps.org spec caps each URL at 2,048 characters. Fix: shorten URLs or remove unnecessary query parameters. If dynamic pages exceed this, they should not be in the sitemap.

Mixed HTTP and HTTPS URLs

A sitemap should list URLs from the same protocol as the sitemap itself. Fix: standardize on HTTPS everywhere and update the sitemap accordingly.

Includes non-canonical or noindex URLs

Sitemaps should only list canonical, indexable URLs. Fix: exclude redirected, 404, canonicalized-away, and noindexed pages. Google treats sitemap URLs as canonical hints.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important URLs on your website. It helps search engines like Google discover and crawl your pages more efficiently. The file follows a specific XML format defined by sitemaps.org.

What are the most common sitemap errors?

Common errors include: invalid XML syntax, missing or malformed URLs, exceeding the 50,000 URL limit, incorrect date formats for lastmod, invalid priority values (must be 0.0-1.0), and duplicate URLs.

What is a sitemap index?

A sitemap index is a file that references multiple sitemap files. It's useful for large websites with more than 50,000 URLs. Instead of one giant sitemap, you can split URLs across multiple files and list them in an index.

Are lastmod, priority, and changefreq required?

No, only the <loc> (URL) element is required. However, lastmod is recommended as it helps search engines know when content was last updated. Note that Google has stated they largely ignore priority and changefreq values.

How do I submit my sitemap to Google?

You can submit your sitemap through Google Search Console. Go to "Sitemaps" in the left menu, enter your sitemap URL, and click "Submit". You can also add the sitemap location to your robots.txt file.

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