How to check a sitemap: find, read, validate

An XML sitemap is a list of the URLs you want search engines to know about. It does not guarantee indexing, but it helps crawlers find pages and tells them when pages changed. A sitemap full of errors does the opposite: it wastes crawl effort and sends mixed signals.

Find a sitemap

Try these in order:

1. /sitemap.xml at the root, the most common location.
2. robots.txt. A Sitemap: line points to it. See how to check robots.txt.
3. /sitemap_index.xml or /wp-sitemap.xml. WordPress and many plugins use these.
4. Search Console, under Sitemaps, if you own the site.

A tool does all of that for you:

curl seoloop.in/sitemap/example.com

Real output for seoloop.in:

https://seoloop.in/sitemap.xml
12 urls

Read it

A basic sitemap looks like this:

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/page</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-10-20</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

Large sites use a sitemap index: a sitemap that lists other sitemaps, often split by type (posts, products, categories). That split is useful, because Search Console shows indexing per sitemap file.

The rules a sitemap must follow

• Limits: up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Beyond that, split it and list the parts in an index.
• Absolute URLs with the correct protocol and host, matching your canonical version.
• Only URLs you want indexed: status 200, not redirected, not noindex, and the canonical version of the page.
• lastmod should be the real date the content last changed. Google uses it only if it has proved accurate, so do not stamp every page with today's date.
• Google ignores priority and changefreq. You can leave them out.

Validate it

1. Open it and check the format. It should be valid XML that loads with a 200 status.
2. Spot-check URLs. Open a sample. Any that redirect, 404 or are noindex do not belong in the file.
3. Submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. The report shows when it was last read, how many URLs were discovered and any errors.
4. Compare counts. If your sitemap lists 500 URLs and Search Console reports far fewer indexed, look at the Page indexing report for the reasons.

Common sitemap mistakes

• Including redirected, 404 or noindex URLs. The most common issue, and a quality signal against the file.
• Wrong host or protocol. http:// URLs in an https:// site.
• A stale file that is never regenerated, so new pages are missing.
• Blocked by robots.txt. Crawlers cannot read a sitemap they are not allowed to fetch.
• One enormous file that times out or exceeds limits.

Checklist

• Found at a stable URL and listed in robots.txt
• Valid XML, 200 status, within size limits
• Contains only indexable canonical 200 URLs
• Honest lastmod dates
• Submitted in Search Console, errors reviewed