Free XML Sitemap Checker

What an XML sitemap is

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs you want search engines to know about, optionally with the date each one last changed. Larger sites split it into several files and list those in a sitemap index.

How to use this sitemap analyser

1. Enter your sitemap URL, usually /sitemap.xml, or paste the XML if the site blocks automated requests.
2. Review the summary: type, URL count, duplicates, invalid URLs, lastmod coverage, protocol and hostname mix.
3. For a sitemap index, analyse individual child sitemaps or count the URLs in the first 25.
4. Optionally run the sitemap URL checker to see status codes for the first 100 URLs, then filter and export the results.

What belongs in a sitemap

List the final, canonical, indexable version of each page you want found: https, your preferred host, no redirects, no noindex pages and no error pages. The protocol allows up to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB per file.

Common sitemap mistakes

Listing redirects and removed pages

Old URLs left in the sitemap after a redesign send crawlers to redirects and 404s. It is not a penalty, but it wastes crawling and muddies reporting.

Mixing hosts and protocols

A sitemap should list URLs on its own host. http and non-www URLs usually mean the generator is misconfigured.

Unreliable lastmod dates

If every URL shows today's date, crawlers learn to ignore the field. Only update lastmod when the content genuinely changes. Not every warning here affects rankings. Most are housekeeping that makes SEO reporting cleaner.