Sitemap validator

Enter the URL of an XML sitemap and we fetch it, validate the XML, detect whether it is a sitemap index or a URL set, count the entries and report coverage of lastmod, changefreq, priority, hreflang and image tags - plus any errors Google would flag.

How the sitemap validator works

An XML sitemap lists the URLs you want search engines to discover, optionally with a last-modified date, change frequency, priority, language alternates and images. This tool downloads the file, parses the XML and checks it against the sitemaps.org schema and Google's limits.

There are two kinds of sitemap. A URL set lists pages directly. A sitemap index lists other sitemaps, which is how large sites stay under the limit of 50,000 URLs and 50 MB per file. We detect which one you submitted and report the counts accordingly.

Beyond counting, we measure how many entries actually use lastmod, changefreq, priority, hreflang and image tags. A lastmod that reflects real changes helps crawlers prioritise; hreflang alternates are essential for multilingual sites. Missing or non-absolute <loc> values are flagged because Google rejects them.

Sitemap best practices

• Keep each file under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB, and use a sitemap index above that.
• Use accurate lastmod dates - a date that never changes is worse than none.
• Only list canonical, indexable URLs that return 200 - no redirects, 404s or noindex pages.
• Reference the sitemap from robots.txt and submit it in Google Search Console.

Frequently asked questions