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XML Sitemap Validator

Free, no signup. Nothing throws an error when a sitemap tag is malformed or lastmod has gone stale — it just quietly stops helping discovery. Paste your sitemap, upload a file, or fetch one by URL, and get every problem grouped by severity, with line numbers and a health score.

Built by Patrick Stox

Example data — replace with your own

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste is uploaded or stored. Fetch by URL uses this site's proxy to retrieve the file only; validation still happens in your browser. Anonymous run-level outcome counters may be used for aggregate research; URLs, domains, IPs, and identifiers are never included, and no statistic is released below 100 runs.

Feedback
Report a bug

Found something broken in Sitemap Validator? Let us know what happened — this goes straight to a private triage queue, not a public list.

What will be sent 
 No tool inputs, uploads, pasted source, complete results, query parameters, or URL fragments are attached automatically. You can edit or remove the selected passage above. Browser and anti-abuse metadata is processed for spam prevention. 
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
   
 
 
Sample report Example data — real, engine-verified result
 
Paste a sitemap with a common mistake — an unescaped ampersand in a URL:
 
 
<url>
  <loc>https://example.com/products?id=1&cat=shoes</loc>
  <lastmod>2026-02-15</lastmod>
</url>
 
 
…and Validate reports a score of 70, with two errors:
  
     
  • Two errors, one root cause. The bare & both breaks XML
            well-formedness and trips the escaping check — the parser and the per-entry rules both
            catch it independently, which is why it costs 30 points (15 each) — see
what it checks.
    •  
  • Same fix for both. Encode it as &amp; so the URL reads
?id=1&amp;cat=shoes, then re-run — both findings clear at once.
    •  
  • Why this score? is not decoration — it lists exactly these two deductions so you
            know which fix moves the number, rather than guessing.
    •  
  • Once it's clean, confirm the URLs inside actually resolve with the
Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker, or read
XML sitemapsAn XML sitemap is a UTF-8 file listing the canonical URLs on your site (with optional lastmod) so search engines can discover and prioritize them. It's a discovery and diagnostic aid, not a guarantee of indexing — and Google ignores its priority and changefreq tags. for what else belongs in the file.
    •  
 
Valid XML can still contain the wrong URLs
 
 
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url><loc>https://shop.example/products/trail-runner</loc></url>
  <url><loc>https://shop.example/products/old-trail-shoe</loc></url>
  <url><loc>https://shop.example/account/login</loc></url>
  <url><loc>https://shop.example/sale/spring-2025</loc></url>
  <url><loc>https://staging.shop.example/products/test</loc></url>
</urlset>
 
 

This file can be structurally valid while the second URL redirects, the login page is
          noindexed, the campaign is expired, and the final row leaks a staging hostname. XML
          validation can catch the off-host entry, but status, canonical, indexability, and lifecycle
          checks require a crawl of the extracted URLs. Use this validator first, then send its URL
          inventory to the status checker. The dataset is
          illustrative and uses reserved `.example` domains.

 
 
 
How to use it
 
     
  1. Paste your sitemap XML, upload a file (.xml or
            gzipped .xml.gz), or fetch by URL.
    2.  
  2. Press Validate. You get a health score, a plain-English summary, and every
            problem grouped by severity with line numbers.
    3.  
  3. Open Why this score? to see exactly which deductions pulled the number down.
    4.  
  4. Export the findings as CSV or JSON, or copy a share link.
    5.  
 
 
 
       
     
       
 
How it works
 

Validation runs in your browser against the sitemaps.org 0.9 schema and Google's
          published rules. It parses the XML, then checks two layers: structure (well-formed
          XML, correct namespace, valid root element, sitemap-index vs urlset) and per-entry
rules (absolute URLs, valid <lastmod> dates, the 50,000-URL / 50 MB limits,
          escaped ampersands, and so on). Each problem is weighted, and the health score is what's left after
          the deductions.

 

Pasted and uploaded files never leave your machine. Fetch by URL is the one mode
          that uses the server — only to pull the bytes, because browsers can't fetch another origin — and
          it's rate-limited; paste mode always works.

 
What it checks
 
     
  • Well-formed XML and the correct sitemaps.org namespace.
    •  
  • Sitemap index vs URL set, and that indexes point at real sub-sitemaps.
    •  
  • Absolute, properly escaped URLs on the same host.
    •  
  • Valid <lastmod> dates in W3C format.
    •  
  • The hard limits: 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file.
    •  
  • Common warnings — missing entries, unexpected tags, encoding issues.
    •  
 
Features
 
     
  • Paste, upload (incl. gzip), or fetch by URL.
    •  
  • Health score with an itemised "why" breakdown.
    •  
  • Errors and warnings grouped by severity, each with a line number.
    •  
  • CSV and JSON export, plus a shareable link.
    •  
  • Handles large files — full structural check, with entry rules sampled over the first 5,000
            entries.
    •  
  • Privacy: pasted/uploaded sitemaps are validated entirely client-side.
    •  
 
Limitations
 

It validates the sitemap's format and structure — it does not crawl the URLs inside it, so
          it won't tell you whether those pages return 200, are indexable, or are canonical. For very large
          sitemaps, entry-level rules run on a sample (the structure is still checked in full). Fetch-by-URL
          reads the file as served to this tool; a sitemap that's generated dynamically or gated may differ
          from what Googlebot receives.

 
Frequently asked questions
 
What makes an XML sitemap valid?
It must be well-formed XML using the sitemaps.org 0.9 namespace, with absolute URLs on the same host, valid W3C-format lastmod dates, properly escaped characters (for example & written as &amp;), and no more than 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed per file. The validator checks all of these and scores the result.
How many URLs can a sitemap contain?
A single sitemap file is limited to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. If you have more, split them across multiple sitemaps and list those in a sitemap index file, which can itself reference up to 50,000 sitemaps.
Does a valid sitemap guarantee my pages get indexed?
No. A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs, but it is a hint, not a command. Pages still have to be crawlable, indexable (no noindex, not blocked by robots.txt), canonical, and worth indexing. A clean sitemap improves discovery; it does not force indexing.
Does lastmod need to be accurate?
Yes. Google only trusts lastmod when it is consistently accurate. If every URL shows today’s date on every export, the signal becomes noise and is ignored. Set lastmod to the date the page’s content actually changed, and leave it alone otherwise.
Can a sitemap list URLs from a different domain?
Generally no — all URLs should be on the same host as the sitemap file. Cross-domain URLs are only valid under specific Search Console cross-submission setups. The validator flags off-host URLs so you can catch accidental staging or CDN hostnames.
 
 
 
     
Next stepXML Sitemap Generator — generate the corrected version.

People also explore
ToolGoogle Index CheckerToolCanonicalization CheckerToolrobots.txt TesterArticleSitemapsArticleXML SitemapArticleSitemap Index
 
 
 
Feature requests for Sitemap Validator
 

Upvote what you want most. New ideas can be submitted from the floating Feedback menu;
      requests appear here once approved, and the most-wanted rise to the top.

   
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À propos de l’outil
Collez, importez ou récupérez un sitemap XML par URL. Le validateur signale les erreurs et avertissements avec leurs lignes, calcule un score de santé et explique les limites de taille, de structure et de protocole.
Les sitemaps collés ou importés sont entièrement analysés dans votre navigateur.
Fonctionnalités
  • Validation XML avec lignes, erreurs, avertissements et score de santé.
  • Contrôle des URL, dates lastmod, hôtes, doublons et limites du protocole sitemap.
  • Mode collage local et mode URL via un proxy limité en débit.
  • Rapport d’exemple, export JSON/CSV et lien de partage.
Fonctionnement
Le parseur décode le XML ou le gzip, vérifie la racine et l’espace de noms, puis contrôle chaque entrée selon les règles du protocole sitemap. Les résultats distinguent les erreurs bloquantes des avertissements et conservent la ligne concernée.
Limites
  • Les requêtes URL passent par un proxy limité ; si celui-ci est indisponible, le mode collage reste utilisable.
  • Un fichier volumineux peut être entièrement vérifié pour sa structure tandis que les règles par entrée sont exécutées sur un échantillon borné.
Questions fréquentes
Pourquoi une esperluette fait-elle échouer un sitemap ?
Dans une URL XML, &, <, > et les guillemets doivent être échappés en entités. Une esperluette non échappée est une cause fréquente d’échec du parseur.
Le mode URL est-il nécessaire ?
Non. Collez ou importez le fichier pour une validation locale ; le mode URL ajoute une récupération via le proxy du site.
Que signifie un sitemap mal formé ?
Le XML ne peut pas être analysé. Corrigez la syntaxe indiquée avant d’interpréter les règles par URL.
Quelles sont les limites principales ?
Un sitemap doit respecter les limites d’URL et de taille du protocole et utiliser des URL canonical HTTP ou HTTPS valides.
Les sitemaps importés quittent-ils mon navigateur ?
Non. Le mode collage et import reste local au navigateur ; seule la récupération URL utilise le proxy limité.