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Technical SEO

Free XML Sitemap Checker

Fetch and validate an XML sitemap. Lists every URL it contains and flags the format problems that quietly stop search engines using it.

Gzipped sitemaps (.xml.gz) cannot be read here — link to the uncompressed file.

The page is fetched once and nothing is stored. Sites that block automated requests may not respond.

What this tool does not do: Validates the sitemap’s format and URLs. It does not request each URL, so it cannot tell you whether they all return 200 or whether Google has indexed them.

How to use this tool

  1. Paste your sitemap URL — commonly /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml.
  2. If it is an index, copy a child sitemap URL and check that too.
  3. Fix any errors listed, then resubmit the sitemap in Search Console.

What is Sitemap Checker?

A sitemap tells search engines which URLs exist and roughly when they changed. It does not guarantee indexing — it helps discovery, particularly for pages that are not well linked internally.

Most sitemap problems are silent: an invalid lastmod is simply ignored, a stray URL from a staging domain is quietly crawled. Nothing warns you, which is why it is worth looking at the file itself occasionally.

Best practices

  • Include only canonical URLs that return 200 and are indexable.
  • Keep each sitemap under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed.
  • Use accurate lastmod dates, or leave them out — wrong dates are worse than none.
  • Reference the sitemap from robots.txt as well as submitting it in Search Console.
  • Do not include noindexed, redirected or blocked URLs.

Frequently asked questions

Does a sitemap improve rankings?

No. It helps search engines find pages. Discovery is a prerequisite for ranking, not a cause of it. A well-linked site with no sitemap can be indexed perfectly well.

Should priority and changefreq be set?

Google has said it ignores both. They do no harm, but time spent tuning them is time wasted. An accurate lastmod is the only hint that still carries weight.

Can it check gzipped sitemaps?

No. A .xml.gz file cannot be read here. Most sites serve an uncompressed version at the same path without the .gz extension.

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Want this done properly on your site?

These tools handle the checks. If you would rather someone did the work — the audit, the fixes and the content — that is what I do.

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Results are provided for informational purposes and may vary depending on the website, browser, network and available data.