XML Sitemap Validator: check syntax, URLs, lastmod and limits

Paste or open a sitemap.xml or sitemap index. Every entry is checked against the sitemaps.org protocol and Google's documented limits, with the entry number for each problem.

What it checks

Well-formed XML. One unescaped & or a stray character makes the whole file unreadable to search engines, not just one entry. The parser's message is shown, with a hint when the cause is an ampersand.
Root element and namespace. A sitemap is a <urlset>; an index of sitemaps is a <sitemapindex>. Both must declare xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9".
Every <loc>: present, an absolute http or https URL, at most 2,048 characters, no spaces, no #fragment, not duplicated.
<lastmod> in W3C Datetime format (2025-06-01 or 2025-06-01T09:30:00+00:00), real calendar dates, and not in the future.
<changefreq> and <priority> have legal values (Google ignores both, so the checker only notes them).
Limits: 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file.
Hosts: all URLs should be on the host the sitemap is served from. http vs https and www vs bare domain count as different hosts.
Extensions for images, video, news and hreflang (xhtml:link) are recognised.

A minimal valid sitemap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2025-06-01</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.example.com/products?id=7&amp;color=red</loc>
  </url>
</urlset>

Only <loc> is required. Note the &: inside XML, the five characters & < > " ' must be written as entities. Most sitemap errors in the wild are this one.

Sitemap indexes

When a site has more than 50,000 URLs, or you want separate files per section, list the sitemaps in an index:

<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap><loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-products-1.xml.gz</loc></sitemap>
  <sitemap><loc>https://www.example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc></sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

An index may list up to 50,000 sitemaps, but it cannot list other indexes. Sitemaps may be gzip-compressed; the 50 MB limit applies to the uncompressed size.

What matters to Google, and what does not

lastmod is used, but only if it is consistently accurate. Set it to the date the page's main content last changed, not the date the sitemap was generated. A sitemap where every URL has today's date teaches Google to ignore the field.
priority and changefreq are ignored by Google. Bing has said the same about priority.
Listing a URL does not guarantee indexing. A sitemap is a hint about which URLs exist and which are canonical. List only canonical, indexable URLs that return 200: no redirects, no 404s, no pages with noindex, no parameter duplicates.
Tell search engines where it is with a Sitemap: line in robots.txt and by submitting it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Common errors and fixes

Error	Fix
"EntityRef: expecting ';'" or similar parser error	Replace `&` in URLs with `&`, or let your generator escape output.
Missing or wrong namespace	Use exactly `http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9` (http, not https).
Relative URLs such as `/about`	Write the full URL including protocol and host.
lastmod like `31/12/2025` or `2025-12-31 10:00`	Use `2025-12-31` or `2025-12-31T10:00:00+00:00`; a time needs a time zone.
Text before `<?xml` (a blank line, a BOM in the wrong place, a PHP warning)	The XML declaration must be the very first thing in the file.

Sources

Last reviewed 2026-11-15. Your input is processed only in your browser and never sent to us.