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.
    •  
 
 
 
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 indexA sitemap index is a sitemap of sitemaps — a single file that lists your other sitemap files instead of listing URLs directly. It's how large sites stay under the 50,000-URL / 50MB-per-sitemap limit while submitting just one file. 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 URLsURL discovery is how search engines find URLs to crawl — by pull (following links and reading sitemaps) and by push (you notify them via IndexNow, the Indexing API, or WebSub). It's the find step that comes before a page is ever fetched., but it is a hint, not a command. Pages still have to be crawlable, indexable (no noindexNoindex is a directive that tells search engines to keep a page out of their index, so it won't appear in search results. It works only on pages a crawler can actually fetch — a page blocked in robots.txt can never be noindexed., not blocked by robots.txtA plain-text file at the root of a host that tells crawlers which URLs they may and may not request. It controls crawling, not indexing — a blocked URL can still be indexed if it's linked from elsewhere.), 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.

Explore more
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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  ➕ Request a feature   
New requests are reviewed before they appear here.
 
     
  
  
 
 
 
 
   
        
 
Common issues & how to fix them
 
 
 
 
 
XML Sitemap Validator · one finding
 
Sitemap exceeds URL or byte limits
 
Recommended action: Split the sitemap below 50,000 entries and 50 MB uncompressed, then list the parts in a sitemap index.
 
Fix principle: A single sitemap must remain at or below 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. Partition canonical, index-intended URLs into stable child sitemaps, list those children in a sitemap index, and preserve the previously submitted entry point when possible.
 
 
 
 Implementation for your setup 
 
Confirm first: One sitemap exceeds 50,000 URL entries or 50 MB before compression. A generated sitemap is truncated, times out, or cannot be processed reliably because it is assembled as one unbounded document.
 
Do not apply when: The file is a sitemap index whose child files each remain within their own limits. The reported compressed transfer size is large but the uncompressed file and URL count remain within limits.
 
Likely control points: cms-app · server · managed-vendor
 
   
Choose the layer that owns the final response.
 
 
 
Generic HTTP / HTML
 
Status: supported · Location: Sitemap generator and its route/storage layer
 
Steps
  1. Filter the inventory to absolute, canonical, index-intended URLs before partitioning it.
  2. Partition URLs deterministically by stable content type, locale, directory, or bounded count so small content changes do not reshuffle every child file.
  3. Generate child sitemaps below both limits and create a sitemap index containing their absolute locations.
  4. Keep the existing submitted sitemap URL as the index when safe, or update robots.txt and Search Console submissions to the new index URL.
  
Verify on this platform
 
  • Validate the index and every child as XML and confirm each child remains below 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed.
  • Fetch every child location from the public index and confirm successful responses and canonical inventory only.
  • Submit the index and monitor child-specific processing without treating submission as guaranteed indexing.
 
Rollback
  1. Retain the prior sitemap route and generation revision until the new index and children validate publicly.
  2. Restore the prior entry point if the new index cannot be fetched, then correct the partition or routing error offline.
 
Caveats
  • Compression does not raise the 50 MB uncompressed limit.
  • A sitemap index also has limits; do not create one child per URL or another unbounded hierarchy.
  • Partitioning is an operational aid, not a way to make non-canonical or low-value URLs indexable.
 
Official sources
 
 
Platform-managed / ask the vendor
 
Status: platform-managed · Location: CMS, commerce, or vendor sitemap generator
 
Implementation is controlled by the platform or vendor.
  
Verify on this platform
 
  • Ask the vendor how it partitions child files, enforces both limits, excludes non-canonical inventory, and preserves the submitted index URL.
  • Validate the final public index and every child independently.
  
Caveats
  • Escalate when the vendor truncates the sitemap or cannot expose child processing failures.
 
Official sources
 
 
 
 
 How to verify 
 
  1. Validate the sitemap index and every child file.
  2. Require every child to remain below both the URL and uncompressed-byte limits.
  3. Confirm every listed child is publicly fetchable and contains canonical, index-intended URLs.
  4. Update and verify the robots/Search Console entry point when it changes.
 
Escalate when
 
Escalate when the generator truncates inventory, cannot measure uncompressed size, produces unstable partitions, or the CMS does not permit a sitemap index.
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
     
  •  Errors Sitemap XML is malformed Fix: Correct the reported XML syntax, including escaping reserved characters, until the file parses as valid XML. 
  •  Errors Root element is not urlset or sitemapindex Fix: Use urlset for a URL sitemap or sitemapindex for an index, with the sitemap protocol namespace on the root element. 
  •  Errors URL location is invalid or relative Fix: Replace each invalid loc with a fully qualified canonical HTTP or HTTPS URL. 
  •  Warnings Duplicate URL entries are present Fix: Emit each canonical URL once by deduplicating the sitemap generator’s source records. 
  •  Errors URL uses an unsupported scheme Fix: Replace non-HTTP locations with crawlable http:// or https:// canonical URLs, or remove those entries. 
  •  Warnings Last-modified date is invalid Fix: Format lastmod as a valid W3C date or datetime and update it only when the page changes materially. 
  •  Warnings Sitemap includes another host Fix: Move cross-host URLs into that host’s sitemap unless ownership is deliberately verified for cross-submission. 
  •  Errors Sitemap index nesting is invalid Fix: Flatten the sitemap structure so the submitted index points directly to URL sitemaps. 
    •