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XML Sitemap Validator

Validate your XML sitemap for syntax errors, broken URLs, and missing pages that could prevent proper Google indexing.

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Sitemap spec cheatsheet.

The rules this validator checks against - straight from sitemaps.org and Google's guidelines.

50,000

URL limit per sitemap

Split into multiple sitemaps + index if over.

50MB

File size (uncompressed)

Compress with .gz if approaching the limit.

UTF-8

Encoding

All content must be UTF-8 encoded.

Absolute URL

loc format

Must start with http:// or https://. Same domain as sitemap.

W3C datetime

lastmod format

YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD, or ISO-8601 with timezone.

always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never

changefreq values

Ignored by Google. Optional and safe to omit.

0.0–1.0

priority range

Ignored by Google. Optional and safe to omit.

Match canonical

Protocol

Do not mix http:// and https:// URLs in one sitemap.

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of the URLs on your site that you want search engines to discover and index. It uses the sitemaps.org XML protocol (adopted by Google, Bing, and Yandex) and is served at a stable URL, most commonly /sitemap.xml. For large sites, a sitemap index file can reference up to 50,000 child sitemaps, each of which can list up to 50,000 URLs.

A well-formed sitemap does two things at once: it surfaces pages that your internal linking would otherwise bury, and it gives search engines an accurate lastmod hint so they know which pages are actually worth re-crawling. A malformed sitemap does neither - worse, a sitemap that lists broken, noindexed, or redirect URLs actively wastes your crawl budget. This validator surfaces the exact issues Google logs silently in Search Console so you can fix them before your next index refresh.

Keep lastmod accurate

Only update lastmod when the content meaningfully changed. Lying here trains Google to ignore the signal across your entire site.

List only indexable URLs

Your sitemap should never include noindex, canonicalized, or redirected URLs. If a URL shouldn't be in Google's index, it shouldn't be in your sitemap either.

Reference it from robots.txt

Add a 'Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml' line to robots.txt. It's the primary way crawlers discover your sitemap without manual submission.

Submit to Search Console

Even with the robots.txt reference, submit the sitemap directly in Google Search Console. It unlocks the coverage and indexing reports that surface why specific URLs fail to index.

Frequently asked questions.

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of the URLs on your site that you want search engines to discover and index. It lives at a stable URL (typically /sitemap.xml), uses the sitemaps.org XML protocol, and can optionally include lastmod, changefreq, and priority hints. Sitemaps are especially important for large sites, sites with few internal links, and new sites with little inbound authority.

Does my site really need a sitemap?

Not always. Small sites (under a few hundred pages) with a clean internal linking structure are usually discovered fine without one. But sitemaps are strongly recommended for anything larger, any e-commerce store, any news site, any site with dynamic routes, and any site that is newer than six months. They are also useful as a self-audit: anything missing from your sitemap is probably missing from Google too.

Where should I put my sitemap?

Place it at the root of your site (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml). Reference it from your robots.txt file with a 'Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml' line. Submit it to Google Search Console under Sitemaps. If you use Next.js, the next-sitemap package auto-generates this. In WordPress, most SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math) generate one at /sitemap_index.xml.

How many URLs can a sitemap contain?

A single sitemap file is capped at 50,000 URLs and 50MB uncompressed. If your site has more than that, split into multiple sitemaps and use a sitemap index file that references them. Most CMS tools handle this automatically. Going over the limit causes Google to silently ignore the overflow entries.

What do changefreq and priority actually do?

Almost nothing. Google explicitly says it ignores both hints, and most other major search engines do too. lastmod still carries real weight - if it is accurate, it helps search engines prioritize re-crawling. changefreq and priority can be omitted entirely without penalty, and many modern sitemap generators have stopped including them.

What does 'Invalid W3C date' mean?

The lastmod field must follow the W3C datetime format: YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD, or a full ISO-8601 timestamp like 2026-04-21T14:32:00Z. Things like 'April 21, 2026' or '4/21/26' are rejected. If lastmod is invalid, Google often ignores the entire entry's freshness signals, which can delay re-crawling of updated content.

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