Articles on: SEOTesting's Free SEO Tools

XML Sitemap Validator

What is the XML Sitemap Validator?

The XML Sitemap Validator is a free tool that checks your XML sitemap and sitemap index files against the official sitemaps.org specification, and tells you about any issues that make a sitemap invalid.


Why is this useful?

An invalid sitemap can stop search engines processing your URLs properly, and Google Search Console's error messages don't always make it obvious what's wrong. Validating a sitemap before you submit it - or when Search Console reports a problem - shows you exactly which part of the file is at fault, so you can fix it rather than guess.


Strict and non-strict validation

The validator runs in two modes:

  • Strict - runs the XML files against the official sitemaps.org specification and fails the sitemap if it doesn't meet the exact spec.
  • Non-strict - simply tries to read the URLs from the XML sitemap files. This is the approach Google Search Console takes.

Running both is often the most useful approach: if a sitemap fails strict but passes non-strict, it isn't to spec but Google will likely still process it. If it fails non-strict too, that's a problem worth fixing straight away.


How to validate a sitemap

  • Open the XML Sitemap Validator.
  • Enter the URL of your XML sitemap or sitemap index file
  • Choose whether to run the validation in strict or non-strict (leave the 'strict' box unchecked for non-strict mode).
  • Click 'Validate' to review the error report.




  • Fix any issues reported in the file, then re-validate to confirm.


Does it work with sitemap index files?

Yes. Enter the URL of the sitemap index file and the index itself will be validated, as will each of the sitemap XML files it links to.


Updated on: 24/07/2026

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!