Fetch a sitemap and check the format, URL count, size limits and a sample of listed URLs.
A sitemap validator downloads your XML sitemap and checks that it parses, stays within the 50,000 URL and 50 MB limits, and lists working URLs. A clean sitemap helps search engines discover pages you want indexed.
This tool fetches the address you enter once, from our server, and reports what a crawler would receive. The URL is not stored; only a short-lived rate-limit counter is kept. Results show the page at the moment of the check and can differ from what a logged-in browser or a bot with different headers sees.
Reads the real page at the moment you run it, with every redirect followed and shown.
Each finding says what it means and what to do next, not just a raw value.
Copy the output straight into your CMS, spreadsheet, ticket or client report.
Free, with no signup. Fair-use limits keep the tool fast for everyone.
Use a full public URL.
The page is fetched live from our server.
Apply the fixes, then run it again.
A good result shows a sitemap that parses cleanly, stays under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed, and lists URLs that return 200. If it exceeds a limit, split it into several files and reference them from a sitemap index. Check that listed URLs are canonical, indexable and use the same protocol and host as your live site. Remove entries that redirect, return errors or carry noindex, since the sitemap should be a list of pages you want indexed. Include lastmod only when it reflects real content changes. Once clean, make sure it is referenced in robots.txt and submitted in Search Console so you can monitor discovery.
Common faults are listing redirected or non-canonical URLs, mixing http and https, and including pages blocked by robots.txt or marked noindex. Auto-generated sitemaps sometimes include tag archives, parameter URLs or staging hostnames that should never be there. Setting every lastmod to the current date teaches crawlers to ignore the field. Another mistake is an invalid XML character or unescaped ampersand in a URL, which breaks parsing. Do not treat the sitemap as a way to force indexing; it supports discovery, and pages still need quality and internal links. Recheck after plugin or theme changes that regenerate the file.
Browse all 41 free technical seo tools, or see the full free SEO toolbox. If you would rather have this handled for you, take a look at our technical SEO services and the results from real projects.