Sitemap Validator
Paste or upload a sitemap XML — instantly check structure, URL limits, lastmod format, duplicates, and priority against Google guidelines. Runs entirely in your browser.
Paste XML or drop a file
How to use it
- 1Paste your sitemap XML into the text area, drag-and-drop an .xml file onto it, or click Upload to browse your files.
- 2Results appear instantly — no button to press. The four summary cards show Total URLs, Health Score, Fresh (30d), and lastmod Coverage at a glance.
- 3Review the Document Issues section for errors (red) and warnings (amber) that affect the whole file. Click the chevron on any issue card to expand the remediation advice.
- 4Scroll to the URL Analysis table to inspect every entry — Modified, Freq, and Priority columns, plus colour-coded issue badges. Hover a badge for the full error message.
- 5Use the filter box to search URLs by path, then click Export CSV to download the full results for offline analysis or sharing.
Common use cases
- Audit a sitemap before submitting it to Google Search Console to catch structural errors that would prevent indexing.
- Verify a CMS-generated sitemap stays under Google's 50,000-URL and 50 MB limits after a large content migration.
- Spot missing or incorrectly formatted lastmod dates that reduce Googlebot's crawl efficiency.
- Find duplicate <loc> entries that waste crawl budget and can cause unintended canonicalization.
- Validate a sitemap index file to confirm all child sitemap references are well-formed.
- Check a staging sitemap before go-live — no data leaves your browser, so private URLs stay private.
Frequently asked questions
- What rules does this validator check?
- It checks the official sitemaps.org protocol — the same spec Google, Bing, and other search engines follow. Checks include: correct root element (<urlset> or <sitemapindex>), the sitemaps.org XML namespace, W3C datetime format for lastmod, valid changefreq values (always/hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/yearly/never), priority in the 0.0–1.0 range, the 50,000-URL limit per file, the 50 MB uncompressed size limit, duplicate <loc> entries, future-dated lastmod values, and URLs that don't start with http:// or https://.
- How do I get my sitemap XML into the tool?
- Three ways: (1) Open your sitemap URL in a browser tab, press ⌘A / Ctrl+A to select all, copy, then paste into the text area. (2) Drag your saved .xml file directly onto the text area. (3) Click the Upload button and pick the file from your computer. Validation runs instantly as soon as content appears.
- What is a good Health Score?
- 80 or above is healthy — few or no errors and warnings, with good lastmod coverage. Below 50 usually means there are errors (invalid XML, missing <loc> elements, exceeding limits) that can prevent search engines from reading the sitemap at all. Scores of 50–79 typically reflect warnings like sparse lastmod coverage or a handful of invalid field values.
- Does Google require lastmod, changefreq, and priority?
- No — all three are optional. Google largely ignores changefreq and priority, treating them only as loose hints. lastmod is the most valuable: a correct, recent lastmod date signals to Googlebot that a page has changed and deserves a re-crawl. If you include any of these optional fields, they must use the correct format or crawlers may ignore them entirely.
- Is my sitemap data sent to a server?
- No. All parsing and validation runs entirely in your browser using the built-in DOMParser API. Nothing you paste or upload is transmitted anywhere — safe for internal, staging, or pre-launch sitemaps containing URLs you haven't made public yet.
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