Paste your XML sitemap and instantly check it against the sitemaps.org protocol — correct root element and namespace, valid absolute URLs, the 50,000-URL and 50 MB limits, and proper lastmod, changefreq and priority values. Works for both URL sitemaps and sitemap index files. 100% in your browser — nothing is uploaded or stored.
| # | URL (loc) | Status |
|---|
🔒 Everything runs in your browser. Your sitemap is never uploaded, logged or stored.
The Sitemap Validator checks your XML sitemap against the official sitemaps.org protocol so search engines can read it without errors. Paste your sitemap and it confirms the root element and namespace are correct, that every entry has a valid absolute URL, and that optional tags like lastmod, changefreq and priority use the right formats. It also enforces the protocol's hard limits — no more than 50,000 URLs and 50 MB per file — and recognises both standard URL sitemaps and sitemap index files. A broken sitemap can quietly stop pages from being discovered, so catching problems before you submit it in Search Console matters.
It is part of the Crawl & Indexing group in our free SEO Toolkit. Pair it with the XML Sitemap Generator to build a clean sitemap, the Robots.txt Generator to reference it correctly, the .htaccess Redirect Generator to fix the URLs it points to, and the Redirect Chain Visualizer to ensure listed URLs resolve cleanly. Everything runs in your browser — your sitemap is never uploaded or stored.
Validated against the sitemaps.org standard.
Confirms a valid urlset or sitemapindex root and namespace.
Checks every loc is absolute and within length limits.
Verifies lastmod dates, changefreq and priority values.
Parsing runs in your browser — nothing leaves your device.
From raw XML to a clear pass-or-fail report.
Copy the contents of sitemap.xml.
The checks run instantly.
See errors, warnings and the entry list.
Correct issues and submit with confidence.
A minimal, correctly structured URL sitemap.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <url> <loc>https://example.com/</loc> <lastmod>2026-01-15</lastmod> <changefreq>weekly</changefreq> <priority>1.0</priority> </url> </urlset>
A sitemap validator checks that an XML sitemap conforms to the sitemaps.org protocol — the shared standard that Google, Bing and other search engines rely on to read your sitemap. A sitemap is a list of the URLs you want crawled, optionally annotated with when each page changed and how important it is. If the file is malformed, uses the wrong namespace, lists relative URLs, or breaks the size limits, a search engine may reject it or silently ignore part of it, leaving pages undiscovered. This tool parses your sitemap the way a browser parses XML, applies every protocol rule, and reports exactly what passes and what needs fixing. It is part of the Crawl & Indexing group in the SEO Toolkit.
The protocol is strict but simple. The file must be well-formed XML with a single root element — <urlset> for a normal sitemap or <sitemapindex> for an index that points to other sitemaps — and that root must declare the sitemaps.org 0.9 namespace. Every entry needs a <loc> containing a fully qualified, absolute URL no longer than 2,048 characters. A single sitemap may list at most 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50 MB uncompressed; beyond that you split it and reference the parts from a sitemap index. The optional tags have fixed formats too, which this validator checks. See the Robots.txt Tester and Canonical Tag Generator for related indexing controls.
Must be urlset or sitemapindex with the 0.9 namespace.
Every loc must be a full http or https URL.
50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file.
Valid W3C dates, changefreq words and 0.0–1.0 priority.
These three optional tags describe each URL. lastmod is the date the page last changed, in W3C format — either a date like 2026-01-15 or a full timestamp with a timezone. Search engines use it as a hint to recrawl changed pages, so keep it honest; a sitemap where every page claims to change daily teaches crawlers to ignore it. changefreq takes one of seven fixed words from always to never, and priority is a number from 0.0 to 1.0 indicating relative importance within your own site. Modern search engines treat changefreq and priority as weak hints at most, but using valid values keeps your sitemap clean and warning-free.
It uses the browser's native DOMParser in XML mode, the same engine browsers use to read XML documents. This means malformed markup, unclosed tags and invalid characters are caught reliably, and the structure is read accurately rather than guessed with text patterns. If the XML cannot be parsed, the validator reports a well-formedness error before checking any rules.
Yes. It detects a <sitemapindex> root and checks each <sitemap> entry's <loc> the same way it checks URLs in a normal sitemap. An index is how you stay under the 50,000-URL limit on large sites: each child sitemap holds up to 50,000 URLs, and the index can reference up to 50,000 sitemaps in turn.
No — and it cannot. Fetching each URL to check its status code requires server-side requests that a private, in-browser tool cannot make, and would be blocked by cross-origin rules. This validator checks the sitemap's structure and formatting against the protocol. To confirm URLs resolve, use Search Console's coverage report or a server-side crawler after the sitemap itself is valid.
No. Parsing and validation run entirely in your browser with JavaScript, and the tool never makes a network request with your sitemap. Nothing you paste is uploaded, logged or stored, so it is safe to validate sitemaps for unreleased sites and confidential client projects.
Validate before submitting in Google Search Console.
Check hand-built or scripted sitemaps for protocol errors.
Confirm a new sitemap is valid after a site move.
Diagnose why a sitemap was rejected or partly read.
Use the Sitemap Validator with these tools from the SEO Toolkit: build a clean file with the XML Sitemap Generator, reference it from the Robots.txt Generator and test that with the Robots.txt Tester, fix the URLs it lists with the .htaccess Redirect Generator, trace redirects with the Redirect Chain Visualizer, and set page-level rules with the X-Robots-Tag Generator.
Anyone who submits a sitemap to search engines.
Everything about validating XML sitemaps.
It checks an XML sitemap against the sitemaps.org protocol. It confirms the file is well-formed XML with a valid root element and namespace, that every entry has an absolute URL, that the 50,000-URL and 50 MB limits are respected, and that lastmod, changefreq and priority use correct formats, reporting each issue clearly.
Yes, completely. There is no cost, no sign-up and no limit on how many sitemaps you validate. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so there are no server costs and nothing to pay for.
Common errors include malformed XML, a wrong or missing root element, an incorrect namespace, relative URLs in the loc tag instead of absolute ones, missing loc elements, exceeding the 50,000-URL or 50 MB limit, and invalid lastmod dates, changefreq words or priority values. The validator flags each of these specifically.
Yes. It detects a sitemapindex root and checks each sitemap entry's loc the same way it checks URLs in a regular sitemap. A sitemap index is how large sites stay within the limits: each child sitemap holds up to 50,000 URLs, and the index can list up to 50,000 sitemaps.
No. Fetching each URL to check its response needs server-side requests that a private in-browser tool cannot make and that cross-origin rules would block. This validator checks structure and formatting against the protocol. To confirm URLs resolve, use Search Console's coverage report or a server-side crawler once the sitemap is valid.
A single sitemap file may contain at most 50,000 URLs and must be no larger than 50 MB uncompressed. If your site has more URLs, split them across multiple sitemaps and list those in a sitemap index file, which can itself reference up to 50,000 sitemaps. The validator checks both limits.
lastmod uses the W3C datetime format. That can be a date alone, such as 2026-01-15, or a full timestamp with a timezone, such as 2026-01-15T09:30:00+00:00. Other formats like 15-01-2026 are invalid and the validator flags them, since search engines may ignore a lastmod they cannot parse.
Modern search engines treat changefreq and priority as weak hints at most, and Google has said it largely ignores them. They are optional, so you can omit them. If you do include them, use valid values — one of the seven changefreq words and a priority between 0.0 and 1.0 — to keep your sitemap warning-free.
No. Parsing and validation run entirely in your browser with JavaScript, and the tool never sends your sitemap over the network. Nothing you paste is uploaded, logged or stored, so it is safe to validate sitemaps for unreleased sites and confidential client work.
Read the error list, which names each problem. Fix malformed XML first, then ensure the root element and namespace are correct, make every loc an absolute URL, and correct any invalid tag values. Regenerate or edit the file, validate again until it is clean, then resubmit it in Search Console.
Yes. The validator is fully responsive, so you can paste and check a sitemap from a phone or tablet. The verdict, the metric cards, the issue list and the scrollable entry table all display cleanly on small screens just as they do on desktop.
Convert, compress, and resize images in multiple formats — JPG, PNG, WebP, ICO, and more.
Calculate in-hand salary, CTC breakup, tax deductions, and more for Indian employees.
Convert length, weight, temperature, speed, volume, and 200+ measurement units instantly.
Count words, convert case, generate lorem ipsum, find & replace text, and more writing utilities.
Check your XML sitemap against the sitemaps.org protocol — structure, URLs, limits and tag formats — and fix problems before you submit it to search engines. Free, private and instant in your browser.
🗺️ Open the Validator ← All Crawl & Indexing Tools