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Sitemap validator: check XML structure, duplicates, and dates

Paste a sitemap.xml or sitemap index and validate the structure: root element, loc values, duplicates, lastmod formats, entry count, and size limits.

Last updated 2 min readBy CrawlerBros Editorial

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This validator checks a sitemap’s XML structure in your browser. Paste a urlset or sitemapindex; the tool reports the root type, entry count, duplicates, invalid <loc> values, lastmod formats, and the 50,000-entry / 50 MB limits.

It does not fetch the URLs. A sitemap can be structurally perfect and still list 404s, redirects, or noindex pages. Crawl the URLs separately.

What it checks

  • The root element is <urlset> or <sitemapindex>.
  • Every entry has a <loc>.
  • <loc> values are absolute http(s) URLs.
  • Duplicate <loc> values.
  • lastmod values look like W3C dates.
  • The entry count is under 50,000.
  • The file is under 50 MB uncompressed.
  • A sitemap index points to .xml files (warning, not an error).

Why these checks matter

A sitemap with a missing <loc> is invalid. A sitemap with relative URLs is ignored by many crawlers. A sitemap that claims every page changed today teaches crawlers to distrust lastmod. A sitemap with 60,000 URLs is over the protocol limit and needs splitting.

The validator is deliberately strict about structure and deliberately silent about content. It cannot know whether a URL should be indexed; that is a crawl and policy question.

Limits

  • It parses the text you paste, not a remote URL. Fetch the sitemap first.
  • It does not validate against every sitemap extension (image, video, news).
  • It does not check HTTP status, canonical tags, or noindex.
  • It cannot verify that lastmod is truthful.

For the protocol, read sitemaps and feeds. For change detection, read incremental crawling.

Sources

Sources checked