Free Sitemap Checker
Validate your XML sitemaps for structural issues that hurt search engine and AI discoverability. We'll check your sitemap structure and report problems instantly.
What is a Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs on your website, along with metadata such as last modification date and change frequency. It helps search engines and AI crawlers discover and prioritize your pages for indexing.
Why It Matters
- Ensures all important pages are found by search engines and AI crawlers
- Tells crawlers when content was last updated for fresher indexing
- Improves crawl efficiency — crawlers focus on pages you care about
Common Issues
- Missing sitemap — crawlers rely on guessing which pages exist
- Invalid XML — broken sitemaps are silently ignored by crawlers
- Duplicate URLs — wasted crawl budget and conflicting signals
Frequently Asked Questions
The Sitemap Checker discovers and validates your XML sitemaps. It checks robots.txt for sitemap references, parses sitemap indexes and URL sets, validates XML structure, detects duplicate URLs, and reports issues that could prevent search engines and AI assistants from properly indexing your content.
AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity rely on web crawling to build their knowledge. Sitemaps tell these crawlers exactly which pages exist on your site and when they were last updated. Without a valid sitemap, AI crawlers may miss important pages or waste time on irrelevant ones — reducing your chances of being cited in AI-generated responses.
The checker detects broken or unreachable sitemaps, invalid XML syntax, missing required elements, duplicate URLs across sitemaps, sitemap index nesting that exceeds recommended depth, and URLs that exceed the 50,000 entry limit per sitemap. Each issue is classified as an error, warning, or informational note.
A sitemap index (sitemapindex) is a file that references other sitemap files — it acts as a table of contents. A URL set (urlset) contains the actual page URLs with optional metadata like last modification date and change frequency. Large sites typically use a sitemap index that points to multiple URL set sitemaps, each containing up to 50,000 URLs.
Yes. GeoVector's sitemap checker is completely free with no sign-up required. The free version checks sitemap structure and XML validation for up to 10,000 URLs. For deeper analysis including URL accessibility checks, broken link detection, and ongoing monitoring, GeoVector offers premium plans.
You should check your sitemap whenever you add or remove pages, change your URL structure, update your CMS, or deploy site changes. For active sites, a monthly check is recommended. Broken sitemaps can silently prevent search engines and AI assistants from discovering your latest content.
Sitemap limits, and what this scan does with them
The specification sets hard ceilings. This free scan applies its own lower limits so a single check stays fast; the paid audit walks the whole tree.
| Limit | Specification | What this scan does |
|---|---|---|
| URLs per sitemap file | 50,000 | This scan reads up to 10,000 and then reports MAX_URLS_REACHED. |
| Uncompressed size per file | 50 MB | Split past the limit and list the parts in a sitemap index. |
| Sitemaps per index file | 50,000 | This scan fetches up to 100 files per run. |
| Index nesting depth | One level in the specification | This scan follows three levels before reporting MAX_DEPTH_EXCEEDED. |
| URL scope | Same protocol and host, at or below the sitemap file's own directory | A sitemap at /catalog/sitemap.xml only affects /catalog/. Google lifts that restriction for sitemaps submitted through Search Console, which also allows cross-submitting URLs for other verified sites. |
What valid sitemap XML looks like
Two file types share one namespace: a urlset lists pages, a sitemapindex lists other sitemap files.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2026-08-01</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/pricing</loc>
<lastmod>2026-07-18</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-08-01</lastmod>
</sitemap>
<sitemap>
<loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
<lastmod>2026-08-05</lastmod>
</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xmllastmod earns its place only when it is true. A build process that stamps today on every URL at deploy time teaches crawlers to ignore the field, which costs you the one signal that tells them what actually changed.
Issue codes this scan can return
Errors mean crawlers cannot use the sitemap. Warnings mean they can, but something in it is misleading.
| Code | Severity | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|
NO_SITEMAP_FOUND | Error | Nothing in robots.txt and no /sitemap.xml. Crawlers fall back to link discovery only. |
SITEMAP_HTTP_ERROR | Error | The sitemap URL returned 4xx or 5xx. A referenced-but-broken sitemap is worse than none. |
SITEMAP_REDIRECTED | Error | The sitemap redirects. Point robots.txt at the final URL. |
DUPLICATE_URL | Warning | The same URL appears more than once across your sitemaps. |
MAX_DEPTH_EXCEEDED | Warning | Indexes nested more than three deep. Flatten the hierarchy. |
URL_INACCESSIBLE | Warning | A listed URL did not respond with 200 when accessibility checking is on. |
URL_REDIRECTED | Info | A listed URL redirects. List destinations, not redirects. |
Sources and specifications
Everything on this page is checked against the primary documentation below. If a vendor changes a rule, that is where it shows up first.
- Sitemaps XML format (protocol 0.9) — sitemaps.org
- Build and submit a sitemap — Google Search Central
- Manage sitemaps with sitemap index files — Google Search Central
Last reviewed . We re-check this page against the source specifications whenever a vendor updates one.