Sitemap checker: see what your XML sitemap tells search engines
Enter a site. This free sitemap checker finds its XML sitemaps the way search engines do, from robots.txt or the usual addresses, reads every sitemap index and file (gzip too), and checks that each one parses and stays within the limits. Then it opens a sample of 25 listed pages to see that they exist, don't redirect and don't say noindex.
Free, no account. One site per scan: up to 50 sitemap files and 25 of the pages they list. Results are kept for 24 hours and shared for the same address; up to 5 scans every 10 minutes and 20 a day.
What search engines need from a sitemap
Found where search engines look
The sitemaps robots.txt names, or /sitemap.xml, /sitemap_index.xml and WordPress's /wp-sitemap.xml when it names none, and whether robots.txt should list the one it found.
Readable and within the limits
Each file answers, is valid XML and is really a sitemap, and stays under what search engines read: 50,000 URLs or 50 MB per file. Indexes that list themselves or loop are flagged too.
Pages that exist
25 of the listed pages are opened: one that's gone (404 or 410) is a problem, because search engines keep crawling it; one that redirects should be listed at the address it ends on.
Pages you want found
A listed page that says noindex sends search engines a mixed signal. A sitemap should only list pages you want in their results.
Honest dates
How many pages carry a <lastmod>, how many distinct dates there are, a date shared by almost every page, and dates in the future: the signals Google uses to decide what to crawl again.
The right address and languages
Listed pages on another host than the site's own address, and, on a multilingual site, hreflang alternates that don't link back to each other.
What one scan can't tell you
The checker reads up to 50 sitemap files and opens 25 of the pages they list. On a large site that's a sample: a dead page among thousands may not be in it. A page that refuses Relvato's request, or doesn't answer, isn't counted as broken.
It sees the sitemap as it is today. Whether Google has read it, how many of its pages are indexed and why others aren't is in Google Search Console, under Sitemaps and Pages.
And it's one look. Sitemaps change with every plugin update, CMS migration and new section. Relvato's Sitemap health monitor reads your sitemaps on a schedule, opens a different 25 pages each run until it has seen them all, notices when every <lastmod> is re-stamped with the same day, and alerts you by email, Slack or webhook.
Questions, answered
Where should my sitemap be?
Anywhere on your site, as long as search engines can find it: name it in robots.txt with a line like Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml, and submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Most CMSs and SEO plugins create one at /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml.
How big can a sitemap be?
50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed per file. A bigger site splits its pages over several sitemaps and lists them in a sitemap index; Google reads up to 50,000 sitemaps from one index.
Does <lastmod> matter?
Google uses it when it's consistently accurate, and ignores it when it isn't. A date that changes for every page each day, or one date for the whole site, tells it nothing, so only change a page's <lastmod> when its content changes.
Why shouldn't a sitemap list redirects or noindex pages?
A sitemap says these are the pages you want found. A redirect sends crawlers somewhere else, and noindex asks them not to index the page, so both waste crawling and blur the signal. List each page at its final address, and only the pages you want in search results.
What happens to the sites I check?
Relvato reads the site's robots.txt, its sitemaps and 25 of the pages they list once, with ordinary requests, and keeps the result for 24 hours so the same address isn't checked again. Nothing else about the scan is stored.
Know when a sitemap starts sending Google to dead pages.
Relvato's Sitemap health monitor repeats this scan on your site on a schedule, on any platform. On every plan, Free included: on Free you run it yourself or weekly; paid plans run it daily.