Free SEO Tool

Sitemap Validator

Validate XML sitemaps, check URL health status, detect duplicates, and get a sitemap health score with specific fix recommendations.

Last updated: September 2026

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How this sitemap checker works

A sitemap validator matters because your sitemap is supposed to help Google find pages. But if it's full of 404s, redirect chains, or invalid lastmod dates, it's doing the opposite: wasting crawl budget on URLs that don't resolve. Most people set up their XML sitemap once and never check it again.

This XML sitemap validator finds your sitemap through robots.txt or the common paths, parses every URL entry and checks <loc>, <lastmod>, <changefreq> and <priority>. It catches duplicate URLs, invalid or future dates, invalid values and files over the 50,000 URL / 50MB limits. Then it checks the HTTP status of a random sample, 500 URLs by default and up to 2,000, grouped by status code so you can fix the worst first.

What errors this sitemap validator finds

Most broken sitemaps fail in predictable ways. Old URLs that still 301 or 404 years after a migration. Dates in the wrong ISO format, or every URL carrying the same lastmod, which usually means a plugin stamps the build date on everything. Query parameters that create near-duplicate entries across hundreds of URLs. Priority values outside the 0.0-1.0 range. And the big one: URLs that pass every XML check but carry a noindex tag or a canonical pointing elsewhere. The tool spot-checks 50 random URLs for both. It doesn't test each URL against robots.txt, it only checks whether robots.txt references the sitemap.

Sitemap validator vs. sitemap generator

Two different jobs. A sitemap generator creates the XML file from scratch, usually by crawling your site or reading your CMS database. A sitemap validator takes an existing file and checks it for errors. You need both tools but at different moments. Generator when you launch or migrate. Validator whenever you suspect drift or see crawl budget issues in GSC.

How to fix errors found by the sitemap validator

Fix the content first, then regenerate the sitemap. Don't patch XML by hand. If a URL 404s, either restore it or remove it from the site. If a lastmod date is wrong, update the CMS. The sitemap is a report, not the source of truth.

Do sitemap validators support image, video, and news formats?

This one only partly. It detects the image, video, news and hreflang extensions and labels each sitemap that uses them, and every page URL in those files gets the normal checks. The extension tags themselves aren't validated. So a news sitemap with articles older than two days, which Google's news sitemap rules exclude, or a video entry missing its thumbnail passes here without a warning. Check those in Search Console's sitemap report after you submit.

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FAQ

What is an XML sitemap? +

An XML sitemap is a file that lists URLs on your website to help search engines discover and crawl your pages more efficiently. It can include metadata like the last modification date, change frequency, and relative priority of each URL.

How many URLs can a sitemap have? +

A single XML sitemap can contain up to 50,000 URLs and must not exceed 50MB (uncompressed). For larger sites, use a sitemap index file that references multiple individual sitemaps.

Does Google use lastmod and changefreq? +

Only lastmod. Google's sitemap documentation says it ignores <priority> and <changefreq>, and uses <lastmod> if it's consistently and verifiably accurate. A generator that stamps today's date on every URL teaches Google to skip the field.

Why are there non-200 URLs in my sitemap? +

Sitemaps should only contain URLs that return a 200 status code and are indexable. URLs that redirect (301/302), return errors (404/500), or are blocked by robots.txt waste crawl budget and should be removed from the sitemap.

What is a sitemap index? +

A sitemap index file is an XML file that references multiple individual sitemaps. Past 50,000 URLs or 50MB you need more than one sitemap, and an index lets you submit them all as one file. Google calls it optional: you can also submit each sitemap on its own. Many sites use an index anyway to split by section (posts, pages, products).

Sitemap check on every page

The Lumina extension shows whether the page you're on is in the sitemap, plus its meta robots, X-Robots-Tag and meta tags.

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