What this tool checks
- XML syntax (parsing errors with line numbers)
- Sitemap protocol compliance — required
<loc>tag in each URL entry - URL count vs. the 50,000 limit per sitemap
- Total uncompressed file size vs. the 50 MB limit
- Optional fields:
lastmod,changefreq,priority - Sitemap index files (sitemap of sitemaps)
Sitemap protocol reference
The sitemap protocol is defined at sitemaps.org/protocol.html. Google, Bing and Yandex all support it. Sitemaps must be UTF-8 encoded.