Is Your XML Sitemap Working?
Check whether search engines can find and read your XML sitemap. Find common sitemap and indexing issues in seconds.
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Why XML Sitemaps Matter
An XML sitemap is a structured file that lists the URLs you want search engines to know about. Crawlers still find most pages by following links, but a sitemap gives them a direct inventory — which matters most on large sites, new sites, and pages that are only reachable through search or filters.
Sitemaps normally live at /sitemap.xml, and robots.txt can point to any other location with a Sitemap: directive. When a site outgrows the limits of a single file — 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed — it splits them into several sitemaps and lists those files in a sitemap index.
A valid sitemap does not guarantee indexing. It is a discovery aid, not an instruction: search engines still decide what to crawl and keep. Common problems are a sitemap that returns a 404 or a redirect chain, malformed XML, URLs that are blocked by robots.txt or carry noindex, stale lastmod dates, HTTP URLs on an HTTPS site, and sitemaps served with an HTML content type.
If the sitemap cannot be fetched at all, start with the crawlability checker, then review page metadata with the SEO meta tag checker and your crawl rules with the robots.txt checker.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is an XML sitemap?
- An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file that lists the URLs on a website so search engines can discover them, usually with optional details such as the last modified date.
- How do I find my sitemap?
- Try /sitemap.xml on your domain, then check robots.txt for a Sitemap: directive. Most content management systems generate one automatically.
- What should my sitemap URL be?
- There is no required path, but https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml is the convention crawlers try first. Whatever path you use should be public and referenced in robots.txt.
- Does robots.txt need a sitemap declaration?
- No. It is a helpful hint that lets crawlers find a sitemap at a non-standard path, but a missing directive is not an error.
- How many URLs can an XML sitemap contain?
- Up to 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed per file. Larger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list those files in a sitemap index.
- What is a sitemap index?
- A sitemap index is a sitemap of sitemaps: instead of page URLs it lists other sitemap files, which keeps each file within the size limits.
- Does having a sitemap guarantee Google indexing?
- No. A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs, but indexing depends on crawling, quality signals and the site's own directives.
- How often should I update my sitemap?
- Whenever URLs are added, removed or substantially changed. Most sites regenerate the sitemap automatically on publish.