XML Sitemap Validator
Paste the XML of a sitemap or sitemap index to check it against the sitemap protocol before you submit it. The validator confirms the XML is well-formed and uses the right namespace, then checks every entry for a valid absolute URL, duplicates, mixed hosts, lastmod dates in W3C format and the 50,000 URL and 50 MB limits. It reads only what you paste and does not fetch any URLs.
XML Sitemap Validator
Paste a <urlset> sitemap or a <sitemapindex>. Open your sitemap in a browser and use View source to copy the raw XML.
Used only to flag URLs on a different host. Nothing is fetched.
Summary
Problems
This tool checks the XML you paste. It does not fetch your sitemap or the URLs in it, so it cannot tell whether pages return 200, redirect, are blocked by robots.txt or carry a noindex tag. Use the Sitemaps report in Google Search Console for that.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded or saved.
How to use this tool
- Copy the raw XML. Open your sitemap URL in a browser, view the page source and copy everything.
- Paste and validate. Paste the XML, optionally add the sitemap’s own address, and press Validate sitemap.
- Fix the errors. Work through the errors first, then the warnings. Each problem shows a count and examples.
- Submit and monitor. Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console and check the Sitemaps report for fetch and indexing issues.
What a valid sitemap needs
A <urlset> root with the namespace http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9, and one <url> per page containing a <loc> with the full, absolute URL. Special characters must be escaped, so & in a URL is written &. Save the file as UTF-8.
Limits and sitemap indexes
One sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed. For larger sites, split the URLs across several sitemaps and list them in a <sitemapindex>, which you submit instead.
lastmod, priority and changefreq
Google uses <lastmod> when it is consistently accurate, so set it to the date the main content last changed, in W3C Datetime format such as 2026-11-10. Google ignores <priority> and <changefreq>.
Which URLs to include
List only canonical URLs that you want in search results and that return a 200 status. Leave out redirects, error pages, noindex pages and duplicate versions. This tool cannot check status codes because it does not fetch anything.
Frequently asked questions
Does a sitemap guarantee my pages get indexed?
No. A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs, but Google still decides what to crawl and index based on quality and other signals.
Can a sitemap include URLs from another domain?
Normally a sitemap lists URLs from its own host only. Cross-site sitemaps are possible when you have verified every site in Search Console, but they are rarely needed.
Can I validate a gzipped sitemap?
Not directly. Decompress the .xml.gz file first, then paste the XML. The 50 MB limit applies to the uncompressed size.
Are image, video and news extensions checked?
Extension tags with their own namespace, such as image:image, are allowed and counted, but their contents are not validated here.