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CrawlReady AI
Free SEO tool

Free XML Sitemap Checker

Paste your URL and we locate your sitemap.xml, confirm it parses as valid XML, count the URLs, and flag the structural problems that stop Google, Bing, and AI crawlers from reading it. This page focuses on the XML file itself — for a wider review of discovery and indexing, use the Sitemap Audit.

Max URLs per file: 50,000 Max uncompressed size: 50 MB Required format: Valid XML, 0.9 namespace

Website URL to analyze

About this tool

Paste your URL and we locate your sitemap.xml, confirm it parses as valid XML, count the URLs, and flag the structural problems that stop Google, Bing, and AI crawlers from reading it. This page focuses on the XML file itself — for a wider review of discovery and indexing, use the Sitemap Audit.

Validate the sitemap.xml file itself — does it exist, return HTTP 200, parse as valid XML, and list clean, canonical URLs? An XML sitemap checker focuses on the file structure search engines and AI crawlers actually read.

What we check

In your free report

  • sitemap.xml found via robots.txt and common locations
  • HTTP status and content-type (application/xml or text/xml)
  • Valid XML parsing — correct <urlset>/<sitemapindex> namespace
  • URL count vs the 50,000-per-file limit and 50 MB uncompressed size
  • Sample <loc> entries: absolute https URLs, no obvious 404s or redirects
Max URLs per file 50,000
Max uncompressed size 50 MB
Required format Valid XML, 0.9 namespace
Best practices

Recommendations from official docs

Use valid XML and the right namespace

Every sitemap must open with the XML declaration and a <urlset> (or <sitemapindex>) element using the http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9 namespace. A single unescaped ampersand or stray character can stop the whole file parsing.

List absolute, canonical https URLs only

Each <loc> must be a full absolute URL on the same host, using the canonical https version. Mixing http/https, trailing-slash variants, or non-canonical URLs sends mixed signals and can split indexing.

Stay inside the size limits

A single sitemap file may contain up to 50,000 URLs and must be under 50 MB uncompressed. Larger sites should use a sitemap index that points to multiple child sitemaps, each within those limits. Gzip compression is allowed.

Common XML sitemap errors

The most frequent problems: the file 404s or returns HTML instead of XML, URLs that redirect or 404, noindex pages listed, lastmod dates in the wrong format, and encoding issues. Each wastes crawl budget and erodes trust in the file.

How to fix

Step-by-step action plan

  1. 1 Open https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml and confirm it returns 200 with valid XML.
  2. 2 Validate the XML structure and namespace; fix any parse or encoding errors.
  3. 3 Replace non-canonical, redirected, 404, and noindex URLs with clean canonical ones.
  4. 4 Split into a sitemap index if you exceed 50,000 URLs or 50 MB.
  5. 5 Reference the sitemap in robots.txt and submit it in Google Search Console.
Official references

Learn more from the source

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Questions about this tool

What does the XML sitemap checker test?

It locates your sitemap.xml, confirms it returns HTTP 200, parses as valid XML, counts the URLs, and flags parse errors, redirects, and 404s in the file.

What are the XML sitemap size limits?

A single sitemap file can hold up to 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50 MB uncompressed. Larger sites should use a sitemap index of multiple child sitemaps.

How is this different from the Sitemap Audit?

This page focuses on the XML file's validity and structure. The Sitemap Audit also checks discovery via robots.txt and whether the listed URLs are canonical and indexable.

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