Sitemap Validator

Check a sitemap against the protocol spec.

Fetch and validate any XML sitemap or sitemap index — including gzipped ones — against the sitemaps.org schema, with per-URL error and warning reporting.

How to use Sitemap Validator

  1. Choose Input Mode

    Open the free online XML sitemap validator and pick By URL, Paste XML, or Upload file to test a live, draft, or gzipped sitemap against the sitemaps.org protocol.

  2. Add Your Sitemap

    Enter your sitemap.xml URL, paste the raw XML, or drop a .xml or .xml.gz file, optionally loading a sample to see how valid and broken sitemaps are reported.

  3. Validate The File

    Click Validate and the tool instantly checks the XML for a correct root, namespace, loc URLs, lastmod dates, changefreq, priority and the 50,000-URL limit.

  4. Check Child Sitemaps

    For a sitemap index, keep the child option on so the validator fetches and verifies each linked child sitemap and reports its own URL count and status.

  5. Review The Verdict

    Read the valid or invalid summary with stat chips, then scan the per-URL table and prioritised issues list to find every error and best-practice warning.

  6. Fix And Resubmit

    Copy or download the report, correct the flagged problems, re-validate until clean, then resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console for faster indexing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I validate an XML sitemap online for free?

Paste your XML, upload a .xml or .xml.gz file, or enter a sitemap URL and click Validate — this free XML sitemap validator fetches the file through our server (handling CORS and gzip) and checks it against the sitemaps.org 0.9 protocol and Google's guidelines. You get a per-URL report of every error and warning, with no sign-up required.

Is my sitemap valid? What does this sitemap checker actually check?

The sitemap checker confirms the file is well-formed XML with the correct root (<urlset> or <sitemapindex>), the proper sitemaps.org namespace, and UTF-8 encoding. It then validates that every <url> has an absolute http(s) <loc> under 2048 characters, that <lastmod> uses valid W3C dates, that <changefreq> is an allowed value, and that <priority> is between 0.0 and 1.0.

How do I check my sitemap against the sitemaps.org schema?

This tool validates your file against the sitemaps.org 0.9 schema (xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"), flagging a missing or wrong namespace, an invalid root element, or malformed tags as errors. It also recognises Google's image, video, news, hreflang and mobile extension namespaces and checks that image and video entries include their required fields.

What is the maximum number of URLs allowed in a sitemap?

A single sitemap file may contain at most 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50 MB uncompressed. If you exceed either limit the validator reports an error and recommends splitting your URLs across multiple files referenced from a sitemap index, which can itself list up to 50,000 sitemaps.

Can this validate a sitemap index and its child sitemaps?

Yes — when you validate a <sitemapindex> the tool checks every child <sitemap> has a valid <loc> and <lastmod>, and with the "validate child sitemaps" option enabled it fetches and validates up to 50 of those child files for you. Each child shows its own pass, warning or error status with a URL count.

Why does Google say my sitemap couldn't be read or has errors?

The most common sitemap errors this checker catches are non-well-formed XML, a missing or incorrect namespace, relative or empty <loc> URLs, invalid <lastmod> dates, bad <changefreq> or out-of-range <priority> values, and duplicate URLs. Fixing the errors and warnings listed here resolves most "sitemap could not be read" issues before you resubmit in Google Search Console.

Can I validate a gzipped (.xml.gz) sitemap or paste XML without a public URL?

Yes. In URL mode our server automatically decompresses .xml.gz sitemaps, and you can also drag-and-drop or upload a .xml, .xml.gz or .txt file directly. Paste mode lets you validate raw XML that isn't published yet, so you can confirm your sitemap is valid before deploying it.

How do I fix 'sitemap could not be read' in Search Console?

That error usually means malformed XML, a wrong or missing namespace, a relative or empty <loc>, or the file isn't actually reachable. Validate the sitemap here to see the exact per-URL errors, fix them, upload the corrected file, then resubmit in Google Search Console.

What are the sitemap size and URL limits?

A single sitemap file can hold up to 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50 MB uncompressed. If you exceed either, split the URLs across multiple sitemap files and reference them from a sitemap index (which can itself list up to 50,000 sitemaps). This validator flags when you're over the limit.

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