What this sitemap validator checks
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The file returns HTTP 200 as XML | Many broken sitemaps are really a 404 page served with a 200 status. Crawlers cannot read that. |
| A urlset or sitemapindex root with the sitemap namespace | It tells crawlers which kind of sitemap they are reading. |
| Full, unique URLs on your own domain | Relative paths, duplicates, and http links in an https site all waste crawls. |
| Escaped characters | A raw & inside a URL breaks the XML for every crawler. |
| Real lastmod dates | Identical or future dates are a sign the values are invented. |
| Size limits | Google reads at most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB per file. |
| A Sitemap line in robots.txt | Lets every crawler find the file, not only the ones you submitted it to. |
| The first five URLs load cleanly | Entries that redirect, error, or carry noindex should not be in a sitemap. |
What a good sitemap contains
A sitemap is a list of the pages you are asking search engines to crawl and index. It does not need to be clever. It needs to be accurate:
- Only canonical pages. The exact URL you want ranked, not a version that redirects, carries tracking parameters, or points its canonical elsewhere.
- Only indexable pages. Leave out login pages, dashboards, thank-you pages, and anything marked noindex.
- An honest lastmod. The date the page content really changed. Leave it out rather than stamping today on every URL.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://yoursite.com/pricing</loc>
<lastmod>2026-10-12</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>The most common sitemap mistakes
- A sitemap generated at build time with no data. If your sitemap reads from a database, check that the production file actually lists those pages. We once shipped one with 35 URLs instead of several hundred for exactly this reason.
- Every lastmod set to now. It looks like freshness, but Google learns the dates are noise and stops trusting them, including on the pages that really did change.
- Listing redirected URLs. If /pricing redirects to /plans, list /plans.
- Forgetting the sitemap once it exists. New page types, such as blog posts or tool pages, often never get added.
After the sitemap is valid
Submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, then watch the discovered and indexed counts over the following weeks. A large gap between the two usually points to thin or duplicate pages rather than a sitemap problem. Make sure crawlers are allowed in the first place with the robots.txt validator, and work through the rest of the setup in our SEO guide for startups.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check if my sitemap is valid?
- Enter your site or sitemap address above. The validator loads the file the way a crawler does, confirms it is real XML with a urlset or sitemapindex root, and checks every URL, lastmod date, and size limit.
- Where is my sitemap?
- Usually at /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml, and it should be listed on a Sitemap line in /robots.txt. Enter just your domain and the validator looks in all three places.
- How many URLs can a sitemap have?
- Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Larger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index.
- Does Google use lastmod, changefreq, and priority?
- Google uses lastmod when it is consistently accurate, and ignores changefreq and priority. A lastmod that changes on every page every time the sitemap is generated teaches Google to ignore it.
- Do I need to submit my sitemap to Google?
- It helps. Submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps to see how many URLs were discovered and indexed, and list it in robots.txt so other crawlers can find it too.