Website Sitemap Checker
Check that a sitemap follows the protocol search engines expect. The checker finds the sitemap through robots.txt or the default locations, parses it safely and checks the namespace and UTF-8 declaration, the 50,000-URL and 50 MB limits, relative URLs, URLs on other hosts or with a different protocol, duplicates, invalid or future lastmod dates, priorities outside 0–1, invalid changefreq values and whether robots.txt references it.
- Encrypted connection
- No sign-up
- Free to use
How to use Website Sitemap Checker
- Enter a website or sitemap address.
- Click “Check sitemap”.
- Read the errors and warnings.
- Fix the sitemap and check again.
Website Sitemap Checker features
Protocol rules
Namespace, encoding, limits.
URL checks
Absolute, same host, same protocol.
Date checks
W3C format, not in the future.
robots.txt
Reference checked.
Safe fetching
Public addresses only, with size and time limits.
Safe parsing
No DTDs or external entities.
When to use Website Sitemap Checker
- Checking a CMS-generated sitemap.
- Fixing “Couldn’t fetch” or parsing errors.
- Before submitting to Search Console.
- After a domain or https move.
Website Sitemap Checker FAQ
How is this different from the Sitemap URL Validator?
This checks the sitemap file itself; the validator fetches a sample of the listed pages.
Why must URLs be on the same host?
A sitemap may only list URLs of its own host unless cross-submission is proven in Search Console.
Does Google use priority?
No, Google ignores priority and changefreq; other engines may read them.
What lastmod format is valid?
W3C Datetime, e.g. 2026-10-05 or 2026-10-05T14:30:00+00:00.
A clean sitemap
Search engines trust sitemaps that are accurate. Wrong hosts, http URLs on an https site or made-up lastmod dates reduce that trust.
After fixing, resubmit the sitemap in Google Search Console.
How it works: our server downloads the page once through a guarded fetcher that only connects to public addresses, follows a limited number of redirects and stops after a size and time limit. The HTML is then analysed in your browser as inert text – scripts on the page never run and nothing is stored.
What it cannot see: content and resources that a page adds with JavaScript after it loads, pages behind a login, and servers that block automated requests. For those, open the page in your browser, use its developer tools, or paste the page source where the tool offers a paste option.
Use the results as a starting point: fix the items marked red first, review the yellow warnings in context, and run the check again after a change. Requests are rate-limited to keep the service fair; if you check many pages in a row, wait a few minutes.
Related checks on this site cover the rest of a technical review – speed and Core Web Vitals, security headers, structured data, accessibility and SEO signals – so you can work through a whole site audit one topic at a time.
Who it is for: site owners checking their own pages, developers debugging a release, SEO and marketing teams auditing clients or competitors, and students learning how the web works. No account or installation is needed, and the results are plain text and tables you can copy into a report or ticket.