Sitemap Validator & Checker
Enter your sitemap URL to check XML syntax compliance, sitemaps.org format, file weight, and run instant HTTP status checks for page URLs to find broken links.
🔍 XML Sitemap Validation & Link Health FAQ
Learn why auditing status codes and namespaces in your sitemaps is critical for AI crawl budget.
1. What does a Sitemap Validator check?
It checks three critical layers: **XML Namespace Compliance** (ensuring sitemaps.org standards are defined), **File Integrity & Size** (under 50,000 URLs / 50MB), and **HTTP Status Audit** (verifying if listed URLs return `200 OK` rather than redirects or errors).
2. Why does a missing XML schema namespace break indexing?
XML parsers require a formal namespace definition (e.g. xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9") to understand tags like <loc> and <lastmod>. Without it, the file parses as generic XML, preventing search bots from recognizing it as a sitemap.
3. What is the difference between a Sitemap and a Sitemap Index?
A single Sitemap contains up to 50,000 page URLs. If your site has more pages, you must divide them into multiple files and list them in a **Sitemap Index** file (which links to the individual sitemaps). Our validator detects and parses both types.
4. Why are 301 redirects and 404 errors bad in sitemaps?
Your sitemap is a declaration of the pages you *want* indexed. Including 404 pages or 301 redirects forces bots to waste crawl budget on useless requests. Sitemaps should exclusively contain clean canonical endpoints.