Sitemap Validator. Check Your sitemap.xml Against Google's Rules
Paste your sitemap XML and get an instant, line-by-line verdict: is it well-formed, does every entry have a <loc>, is it under the 50,000-URL limit, are the URLs HTTPS, and are your changefreq and priority values valid? Every check runs in your browser. Nothing is crawled, uploaded or stored.
What is the sitemap validator?
The Sitemap Validator lints a pasted sitemap.xml or sitemapindex against sitemaps.org and Google's rules, checking well-formed XML, that every url has one loc, the 50,000-URL / 50 MB ceiling, HTTPS locations, and valid changefreq and priority values. Free and browser-based with no crawl, so pre-launch sitemaps stay private.
The GigAI Sitemap Validator lints a pasted sitemap.xml, or a <sitemapindex> of child sitemaps, against the sitemaps.org protocol and Google's documented requirements, so you can fix a sitemap before Search Console flags it. It parses the XML with the browser's native parser and first checks that the document is well-formed. A single unescaped ampersand, unclosed tag or stray character is the most common reason Search Console reports "Sitemap could not be read", and the validator points straight at it. It then walks every entry and confirms the structural rules: each <url> carries exactly one non-empty <loc>, the file stays within the 50,000-URL and 50 MB uncompressed ceiling that forces a sitemap index, locations use HTTPS, and any changefreq is one of the seven allowed keywords while every priority is a number between 0.0 and 1.0. Results come back as a scored checklist of passes, warnings and hard errors, each written so you know exactly what to change. Unlike online validators that fetch your live URL on their own server, this tool never leaves your browser, so you can validate a staging, pre-launch or internal sitemap without exposing a single URL, and there is no rate limit or sign-in. It does not crawl the site behind the sitemap or verify that each URL returns 200. It validates the sitemap document itself, which is precisely the layer that causes most "invalid sitemap" rejections.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
- Typical time:
- ~30s
- Processing:
- 100% browser processing
Last updated
How to use the sitemap validator
- 1
Open your sitemap.xml
Visit your sitemap in a browser (e.g. https://example.com/sitemap.xml), select all and copy, or open the file locally and copy its contents.
- 2
Paste it in
Paste the XML into the input, or drop a.xml file. It's parsed locally the moment you stop typing: nothing is uploaded.
- 3
Read the checklist
Review the scored report: well-formedness, missing <loc>, URL count vs the 50,000 limit, HTTPS coverage, and any invalid changefreq or priority values.
- 4
Fix and re-paste
Edit the flagged lines in your sitemap, paste the corrected XML back in, and confirm every check is green before you re-submit in Search Console.
What Sitemap Validator includes
Well-formedness first
Parses your sitemap with the browser's native XML parser and pinpoints the exact reason it isn't well-formed, the No. 1 cause of Search Console's "could not be read" error.
Every <url> needs a <loc>
Walks every entry and flags any <url> (or <sitemap> in an index) that is missing a non-empty <loc>, which silently drops URLs from indexing.
HTTPS & protocol checks
Confirms locations use https://, changefreq is one of the seven valid keywords, and every priority is a number between 0.0 and 1.0: surfaced per offending URL.
50,000-URL / 50 MB limit
Counts entries and warns as you near (then hard-fails past) the protocol ceiling that requires splitting into multiple files behind a sitemap index.
Handles sitemap indexes
Detects a <sitemapindex> and validates its <sitemap> children too, so you can check the index that ties your split sitemaps together.
100% in your browser
No fetch, no upload, no account. Paste a staging or pre-launch sitemap and validate it privately: nothing you paste is transmitted, stored or logged.
Why use our sitemap validator
Fix rejections before they cost you
Catch the well-formedness and structural errors that make Search Console report "Sitemap could not be read" or "has errors": before you submit and wait days for a re-crawl.
Know exactly what to change
Every warning and error names the rule and, where possible, the offending URL, so you're not left guessing why a validator just said "invalid".
Validate private sitemaps safely
Because nothing is fetched or uploaded, you can lint staging, internal or pre-launch sitemaps without any URL touching a third-party server.
No limits, no sign-in
Paste as many sitemaps as you like with no rate limit, quota or login: a server-side crawler-validator can't offer that for free.
Built for the way you work
From quick one-off fixes to daily workflows, see how people put this tool to use.
- SEO specialist
Debug a rejected sitemap
Search Console says the sitemap has errors or couldn't be read. Paste it here to find the exact malformed line, missing <loc> or over-limit count that's the cause.
- Web developer
Verify a generated sitemap in CI
Before shipping, paste the sitemap your build produces to confirm it's well-formed and within limits, catching an unescaped & or template bug before it goes live.
- Agency / freelancer
Audit a client's existing sitemap
Grab a prospect or client's live sitemap, paste it, and produce a quick, private list of protocol issues to fix: without their URLs leaving your machine.
- Content / marketing
Sanity-check after a big publish
After a bulk import or migration, paste the new sitemap to make sure every entry has a <loc> and you haven't blown past the 50,000-URL ceiling.
Supported formats
Accepts XML and sitemap.xml, and produces Validation report, all processed locally in your browser.
- XML
- sitemap.xml
- Validation report
Frequently asked questions
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Common problems, solved
Hit a snag? Here are quick fixes for the issues people run into most.
The validator says my XML is not well-formed, but it looks fine.
Look for unescaped special characters inside <loc>, raw &, <, > and " must be written as &, <, > and ". A single unescaped ampersand in a URL query string is the most common culprit. Unclosed tags and a stray BOM or leading whitespace before the XML declaration also break parsing.
Can it validate my sitemap from just the URL?
No. This tool runs entirely in your browser and can't fetch remote URLs (a static site has no server to crawl from, and cross-origin fetches are blocked). Open the sitemap in a browser tab, copy the XML, and paste it here. The upside is that staging and private sitemaps never leave your machine.
It warns that my URLs aren't HTTPS.
Search engines expect canonical URLs to be served over HTTPS. Update your sitemap to list the https:// version of each URL, and make sure those pages actually resolve on HTTPS without redirect chains.
It flags an invalid changefreq or priority.
changefreq must be exactly one of always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or never (lowercase). priority must be a decimal from 0.0 to 1.0. Remove or correct any value outside those. Both fields are advisory hints, not ranking factors.
Get the most out of it
This checks the sitemap document, not the pages. It won't tell you if a listed URL returns 404 or is noindex. Pair it with a live crawl for that.
Escape URLs before they go in the sitemap: & becomes &. Most "not well-formed" failures are a raw ampersand in a query string.
Over 50,000 URLs or 50 MB? Split into several sitemaps and validate the <sitemapindex> that lists them, then submit only the index.
Keep lastmod in W3C / ISO 8601 form (YYYY-MM-DD or a full timestamp). This tool won't reject other formats but Search Console may ignore them.
Validate the exact bytes Search Console fetches: copy from the live sitemap URL, not from a pre-minified source file, so you catch server-side escaping issues.
What's new
Recent updates and improvements to the sitemap validator.
Initial release, paste-first sitemap.xml validation: well-formedness, missing <loc>, 50,000-URL limit, HTTPS and changefreq/priority checks with a scored checklist.
Added <sitemapindex> detection and child-sitemap validation, HTTPS coverage stats, and per-URL messages for invalid changefreq/priority values.
Added drag-and-drop .xml import, a realistic sample sitemap, entry-count and file-size stats, and clearer fix guidance on each failing check.
Keep exploring
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Definitions
From the blog
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- How to Preview Your Google Search Result Before You Publish
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Your privacy is built in
Your sitemap is parsed and validated entirely in your browser using the native XML parser. There is no crawler and no upload. Nothing you paste is stored, logged or transmitted, so you can safely validate staging, pre-launch or internal sitemaps whose URLs shouldn't be public. Close the tab and every trace is gone.
- Runs in your browser
- No uploads
- Nothing stored
Ready to try the sitemap validator?
Free, private and instant. Sitemap Validator runs right in your browser.