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Checks a sitemap.xml file against the sitemaps.org protocol - well-formed XML, a recognized <urlset> or <sitemapindex> root, valid <loc> URLs, correctly formatted <lastmod>/<changefreq>/<priority> values, duplicate entries, and the protocol's 50,000-URL / 50MB-per-file limits. Paste the XML directly or drop in a file.

What it doesn't do

This only checks the file's own structure and syntax - it never fetches any of the listed URLs to confirm they actually resolve. Doing that reliably for a sitemap with thousands of entries would be slow, and many sites block automated URL-by-URL checking the same way they block other automated fetches (see the SEO & Meta Tag Analyzer's notes on bot-protection challenges for why). If you need link-liveness checking, a dedicated crawler is the right tool for that job, not this one.

It also doesn't check whether a sitemap index's referenced sitemaps exist or are themselves valid - only the index file you paste in is validated.

Frequently asked questions

Does this tool check if my URLs actually work (return 200)?

No, deliberately. It validates the XML structure and the protocol's formatting rules only - it never makes a network request to any URL listed in the sitemap. Checking thousands of live URLs is a different job (a crawler), not a fast client-side structural check.

Is my sitemap uploaded anywhere?

No - parsing and validation both run in your browser using the native XML parser. Nothing is sent to a server.

What's the difference between a sitemap and a sitemap index?

A sitemap (<urlset> root) lists actual page URLs directly. A sitemap index (<sitemapindex> root) instead lists other sitemap files - used when a site has more URLs than fit in one file's 50,000-URL limit. This tool detects which one you've pasted and validates it accordingly.

Why does it warn about a namespace I didn't add?

The sitemap protocol requires the root <urlset>/<sitemapindex> element to declare xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9". Sitemaps generated without it often still work in practice, but search engines' own documentation specifies it, so a missing or wrong namespace is flagged as a warning.

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