Sitemap XML Parser
Paste sitemap XML and get every URL with its lastmod and settings.
What this tool does
A sitemap XML parser reads pasted sitemap XML and returns every URL it contains, each with the lastmod, changefreq and priority fields alongside. Sitemap index files are recognised too - the files that point at other sitemaps - and their child entries are listed so you can see the structure at a glance. The URL list exports as CSV or plain text, which feeds directly into the URL formatter or sitemap generator when you need to rebuild rather than read.
Pastes sitemap XML and returns every URL with its lastmod, changefreq and priority.
Reads sitemap index files too, listing the child sitemaps inside.
Exports the URL list straight to CSV or plain text for the formatter.
Reports totals and date ranges so the sitemap's health is visible at once.
How to use it
- Copy your sitemap XML - the raw source, not the browser's pretty view.
- Paste it into the box and the URLs are read instantly.
- Check the summary: URL count, date range, index or plain sitemap.
- Scan the table for missing lastmod values or stale dates.
- Copy the URL list as CSV or plain text.
Why use this tool
A sitemap is a promise about your site's structure, and promises are worth checking. URLs that should have been removed, lastmod dates frozen months in the past, a priority column nobody has touched since the CMS default - none of it shows up while the file just sits there, but all of it shows up the moment the URLs are listed in front of you. Reading the XML into a table is the cheapest audit there is.
Why we built it
We built this sitemap XML parser because the generator writes sitemaps and nothing reads them back. Between those sits the useful middle: paste a file, see every URL with its dates, spot the stale corner and the orphaned entries. Index files are parsed the same way, so a large site's sitemap-of-sitemaps becomes one readable list. The XML sitemap generator builds the file; the sitemap URL formatter then cleans the extracted list before a rebuild.
To check what the crawler is told about those URLs, the robots.txt tester simulates rule matching.
Who this tool is for
- SEO consultants auditing a client's submitted sitemaps
- Developers verifying an export after a migration
- Site owners who want to see what is actually in their sitemap
- Anyone investigating why old pages keep reappearing in the index
What the parser reads
| Field | Shown as |
|---|---|
| loc | The URL itself, the one required field |
| lastmod | Readability date plus age in days |
| changefreq | The declared update frequency |
| priority | The declared priority value |
| Index entries | Child sitemap locations in an index file |
A worked example
The sample loads a small sitemap with one stale corner. The summary and table read like this:
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| URLs found | 6 |
| Newest lastmod | 3 days ago |
| Oldest lastmod | 411 days ago |
| Missing lastmod | 1 URL - flagged |
What you enter, and what you get back
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Sitemap XML | urlset or sitemapindex, pasted raw. |
| Result | URL table with dates and flags, summary stats. |
| Copy | URLs as CSV or plain text. |
Issues you may run into
| What you see | Why it happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing parsed | The browser view was copied, not the XML source. | Open the sitemap URL's raw source and copy that. |
| Truncated paste | Sitemap too large for the clipboard. | Paste a child sitemap from the index instead. |
| Odd characters in URLs | Entities like & unescaped in the source. | Entities are decoded - check the original encoding. |
| Index detected unexpectedly | File points at child sitemaps. | That is an index - listed as child sitemaps on purpose. |
Assumptions and limitations
- Reads the XML you paste; it cannot fetch a live sitemap from a URL.
- Very large sitemaps may exceed the clipboard - parse them child by child.
- gzip-compressed sitemaps must be decompressed before pasting.
- It reports what the file says - whether the URLs resolve is a crawl question, not a parse.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract URLs from a sitemap?
Copy the sitemap's raw XML source and paste it into the tool. Every URL appears in a table with its lastmod, changefreq and priority, and the list exports as CSV or plain text.
Does it read sitemap index files?
Yes. Sitemap index files are detected and their child sitemap entries are listed, so you can see the structure and then parse each child in turn.
What fields does it read from each URL?
The loc URL, the lastmod date, the changefreq and the priority. Dates are shown in readable form with their age, and URLs without a lastmod are flagged.
What if my sitemap is too large to paste?
Use the index to find a child sitemap and paste that instead. Parsing child by child also makes the output easier to audit.
What can I do with the extracted list?
Feed it into the sitemap URL formatter to clean and deduplicate, load it into the redirect mapper during a migration, or simply check that every URL belongs there.
Is the sitemap XML parser free?
Yes, completely free with no account and nothing uploaded. The XML is parsed in your browser and disappears with the tab.