XML SITEMAP
VALIDATOR
Enter a sitemap URL, or just a domain to check the conventional /sitemap.xml location. We fetch it and check the things that quietly stop search engines using it: the 50,000 URL and 50MB limits, URLs on a different host to the sitemap, malformed or future lastmod dates, duplicate entries and the wrong content type.
What is an XML Sitemap Validator?
An XML sitemap validator is a free tool that fetches a sitemap and checks it against the sitemaps.org specification: the 50,000 URL and 50MB limits, URLs pointing at a different host to the sitemap itself, malformed or future lastmod dates, duplicate entries and an incorrect content type. It handles both sitemap indexes and URL sets.
How does an XML Sitemap Validator work?
- 01We fetch the sitemap and confirm it returns 200 and parses as XML.
- 02Index files and URL sets are handled differently, and index children are listed.
- 03Every entry is checked against the sitemaps.org limits and the rules crawlers enforce.
Frequently asked questions
How many URLs can one sitemap contain?
Up to 50,000 URLs and 50MB uncompressed. Beyond either limit search engines stop reading the file, so you split it into several sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index, which can itself hold 50,000 children. Most large sites shard by content type or by numbered ranges.
Why are my sitemap URLs being ignored?
The most common cause is cross-host entries: a sitemap at example.com/sitemap.xml can only list URLs on example.com, and anything pointing elsewhere is disregarded unless the sitemap is cross-submitted and verified for that host. After that, the usual culprits are URLs that are noindexed, canonicalised elsewhere, or blocked in robots.txt, all of which a sitemap cannot override.
Do I need lastmod dates?
They are optional but worth having, because search engines use them to prioritise what to recrawl. They only help if they are accurate: a lastmod that updates on every build regardless of whether the content changed teaches crawlers to ignore the field entirely. Dates in the future are also commonly disregarded.