Check a live sitemap.xml: URL count, lastmod dates, size limits and protocol errors
Checked from our server in India. Only the address you type is sent to us; nothing else leaves your device. Checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026.A sitemap checker fetches a website's sitemap and tests it against the sitemaps.org protocol. This one reads the live file from our server, unpacks gzip, counts the URLs, reads the lastmod dates and reports every rule broken, such as more than 50,000 URLs, a missing namespace, a bad date or URLs on another host, each with an example.
Type the sitemap address, or the domain for /sitemap.xml.
Press Check sitemap.
Read the errors and warnings, each with an example, and the first entries.
A sitemap lists the pages a site wants crawled. Search engines are strict about its format, and when something is wrong Search Console often says only that the sitemap could not be read. This checker fetches the sitemap from our server, up to 10 MB, unpacks it when it is gzipped, and checks it on the server against the sitemaps.org protocol, so even a large file comes back as a short report.
The type: a URL sitemap (<urlset>), a sitemap index (<sitemapindex>) or a plain-text list of URLs. A web page in place of a sitemap, which is what a missing file often returns, is recognised. Then the rules: the sitemap namespace on the root element; no blank lines before the XML declaration; one <loc> in every entry; full http or https addresses under 2,048 characters; ampersands written as &; at most 50,000 entries and 50 MB unpacked; <lastmod> in W3C date format and not in the future; valid <changefreq> and <priority> values; and URLs on another host, on the other scheme or outside the sitemap's own folder, which search engines ignore.
Each problem shows how many entries it affects and one example, and problems are listed worst first. The summary also gives the oldest and newest lastmod, and flags a sitemap where every lastmod is the same, which usually means the build date rather than real change dates.
Only the first 10 MB are read; a larger file is checked in part and says so. A sitemap index is checked as an index; the sitemaps it lists are not fetched, but each can be checked here in turn. Google ignores priority and changefreq, which the report notes.
The usual causes are an address that returns a web page or an error instead of XML, a bare ampersand in a URL that breaks the XML, blank lines before the XML declaration, or a missing sitemap namespace. The checker fetches the live file and names whichever of these it finds, with an example.
At most 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file, under the sitemaps.org protocol. A larger site splits its URLs across several sitemaps and lists them in a sitemap index, which can itself list up to 50,000 sitemaps. The checker counts the entries and flags a file over either limit.
Not by default. A sitemap counts only for URLs on the same host and under the same folder as the sitemap itself. URLs on another host are ignored unless that host's robots.txt lists the sitemap. The checker warns about each such URL and shows the other hosts named.
Google uses lastmod when it is consistently accurate, and ignores priority and changefreq entirely. The checker validates the format of all three, reports the oldest and newest lastmod, and warns when every date is the same, which usually means the build date rather than real changes.
Yes. If the file starts with the gzip signature, as sitemap.xml.gz files do, our server unpacks it before checking, up to the 50 MB limit the protocol sets. The report shows both the size sent and the unpacked size, and says so if the archive is damaged.
No. A bare domain checks /sitemap.xml on https. For any other location, such as /sitemap_index.xml or /post-sitemap.xml, type the full address. The Robots.txt Checker shows the sitemap addresses a site lists in its robots.txt.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about Sitemap Checker and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
Also works as: Sitemap Validator.
On the related tools: IP to ASN Lookup – Map an IP address to the ASN that announces it, with the BGP prefix · DNSKEY Lookup – List a zone’s DNSKEY records with key tags, KSK or ZSK roles, algorithms and key sizes.