Check a site
XML sitemap checker
Find a site's XML sitemaps, validate every file against the sitemap rules, then test a spread of the URLs they list for errors, redirects, noindex tags and canonicals that point somewhere else.
Free · No signup · Reads public pages only
How it works
Enter your website, or the full address of one sitemap if it lives somewhere unusual.
We look in robots.txt for Sitemap lines (then /sitemap.xml and /sitemap_index.xml), read each file and up to 10 sitemaps from an index, and check them line by line.
We fetch 50 URLs spread across the list and show which ones a search engine would object to, problems first, ready to download.
What a good sitemap looks like
An XML sitemap is a list of the pages you want search engines to find, with an optional date each one last changed. It doesn't make Google index anything; it helps Google discover pages and notice changes sooner, especially on big sites and new ones with few links.
A good sitemap lists only pages that load with a 200, are allowed to be indexed, and are the canonical version of themselves. Everything else is noise: if a fifth of the URLs redirect or return 404, a search engine has less reason to trust the rest.
The format has hard limits: 50,000 URLs and 50 MB (uncompressed) per file, every address written out in full (https:// and all), and every URL on the same host as the site. Bigger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list those in a sitemap index.
How to read the results
The top list covers the sitemap files themselves: whether we could find them, whether the XML is valid (with the line number when it isn't), and whether they break the format's rules. Then come the sampled URLs, sorted so problems come first:
- Error: the URL returns 4xx or 5xx, or didn't answer. Remove it, or fix or redirect the page.
- Redirects: list the final address instead. A sitemap full of redirects is usually out of date.
- Noindex: the page asks not to be indexed while the sitemap asks for it to be. Search Console flags this as an error; decide which one you mean.
- Canonical elsewhere: the page names a different URL as the main version. List that one.
- Rate limited: your server asked us to slow down. That's not a sitemap problem; run it again later.
lastmod, priority and changefreq
Google says it ignores <priority> and <changefreq>, so they do no harm but do nothing for Google. <lastmod> is different: Google uses it when it's consistently accurate, as a hint about which pages to recrawl.
The common mistake is a lastmod that changes every time the sitemap is rebuilt. When every URL carries the same date, or a date in the future, the dates stop meaning anything, and Google learns to ignore them. This checker flags both. Set lastmod to the date the page's main content last changed, not the date you regenerated the file.
What this checker can't see
It tests a sample, not every URL. Fifty URLs spread evenly from first to last catch patterns (a whole section redirecting, a template adding noindex) but can miss one-off problems. The page inventory exporter checks up to 200 pages one by one.
It can't open gzip-compressed sitemaps (.xml.gz) yet, and it can't see which sitemaps you've submitted in Search Console or how Google processed them. The Sitemaps report in Search Console shows when Google last read each file and any errors it hit; the Page indexing report, filtered by sitemap, shows which listed URLs are actually indexed.
Questions people ask
Do I need a sitemap if my site is small?
Google says small, well-linked sites often don't. But a sitemap is cheap, most site builders generate one for you, and it helps new pages get found faster. Most sites should have one.
Where should my sitemap live?
Usually at /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml at the root of your site. Wherever it is, add a "Sitemap: https://..." line to robots.txt and submit it in Search Console, so every search engine can find it.
Why are noindex pages in my sitemap a problem?
They send opposite signals: the sitemap says "index this" and the page says "don't". Google follows the noindex but reports the conflict, and it's often a sign that the wrong pages are noindexed by mistake.
Should every page on my site be in the sitemap?
Every page you want in search results, and nothing else. Leave out redirects, error pages, duplicates that point to a canonical, thank-you pages and anything marked noindex.
Is this sitemap checker free?
Yes. No signup. It reads sitemaps and pages that are public on the web.
Want it done for you?
Romeo checks every URL in your sitemap, not just 50
He crawls your whole site, compares it with your sitemap, and finds the errors, redirects and noindex pages hiding in it. Then he sends the fixes for you to approve.
