Sitemap validator
Enter a domain. We find your sitemaps, validate the XML, count URLs and check a sample for errors and hreflang mistakes.
How it works
- 1
We find the sitemaps
From the Sitemap lines in robots.txt, then /sitemap.xml and /sitemap_index.xml. Sitemap indexes and gzip files are handled.
- 2
We validate the XML
Well-formed XML, URL counts against the 50,000 limit, absolute same-host URLs.
- 3
We sample real URLs
Up to 50 URLs are requested for status codes, and hreflang alternates are checked for return tags.
Why it matters for AI search
A sitemap is the cleanest list of what you want found. Dead or redirecting URLs in it teach crawlers to trust it less, and broken hreflang sends the wrong language version to the wrong audience.
Frequently asked questions
Do AI crawlers use sitemaps?
Search crawlers that feed AI products, such as Bing and Googlebot, do. Others discover pages through links, so a sitemap is a reliable backup.
How are the 50 URLs chosen?
We spread the sample evenly across the sitemap rather than taking the first 50.
What is hreflang reciprocity?
If page A names page B as its French version, page B must name page A back. Without return tags, search engines may ignore both.
What if my sitemap is huge?
We fetch a limited number of child sitemaps from an index and sample from those, and we tell you what we covered.