Why does every need a ?

is the only required child of a element — it's the absolute URL of the page itself, starting with http:// or https://. A entry without a valid is invalid and search engines will typically skip it.

Free tool

Sitemap XML validator

Paste your sitemap.xml or upload the file and instantly check it for malformed XML, missing or relative URLs, invalid dates, and the 50,000 URL limit — before you submit it to Google.

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Sitemap XML

Paste your sitemap.xml content, or upload a file — everything runs in your browser.

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FAQ

Sitemap validator FAQ

What is a sitemap.xml file?

A sitemap.xml is a file that lists the URLs on your site so search engines can discover and crawl them more efficiently. It typically lives at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml and is referenced from robots.txt.

What's the 50,000 URL limit?

Each individual sitemap file can list at most 50,000 URLs and must be no larger than 50MB uncompressed. Sites with more URLs than that need to split them across multiple sitemap files and reference all of them from a sitemap index file.

What is a sitemap index file?

A sitemap index is a file whose root element is <sitemapindex> instead of <urlset>. Instead of listing pages directly, each <sitemap> entry points to another sitemap file's URL, letting you organize a large site's URLs across several files.

Does <lastmod> need to be accurate?

Search engines use <lastmod> as a hint to prioritize re-crawling recently changed pages, but only if it's trustworthy. It should be a valid ISO 8601 date (e.g. 2026-01-15) reflecting when the page's content actually changed — not just today's date on every entry.

Why does every <url> need a <loc>?

<loc> is the only required child of a <url> element — it's the absolute URL of the page itself, starting with http:// or https://. A <url> entry without a valid <loc> is invalid and search engines will typically skip it.

Does this tool upload my sitemap anywhere?

No. Parsing and validation happen entirely in your browser using the native DOMParser API — nothing is sent to a server, whether you paste the XML or upload a file.

Want your sitemaps kept clean automatically?

mktcrew's publisher agent keeps your CMS sitemap current every time it pushes an approved article — correct URLs, valid lastmod dates, no manual upkeep. You approve every publish.

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